When the Stars Descend
by crazydreamer12
Summary: Sequel for An Alter in Fate: After being taken from Edward & Bella, Nessie must learn to cope with what haunts her most: her past. Death, violence, peril, & fear lurk in every shadow she enters. Trust will be tested. Truth will reveal. Lives will change.
1. Prologue

Prologue:

_Then, Judy steps forward. "The Brenners and Williams have decided…" Oh please. Please please please please let us stay with the Cullens._

"…_to take this to court," Judy finishes. Bella's face turns completely white, Kerry's eyes widen and her mouth drops open, and Edward's eyes turn ebony black. I almost faint. Oh no. No, no, no, no, no, no! This can't happen! It can't! I look desperately at the Brenner family, and Anna shrugs sadly. I know she's on our side, but doesn't have a say in the decisions._

"_No…," I whisper, and feel as if I am falling into the restless sea without any way to escape. I feel Edward's hand on my back and look up at him. His lip is quivering with anger, and Bella is against his chest, sobbing tearlessly. I bury my face into Bella and Edward, tears sliding down my cheeks. My mother holds my bandaged hand, slowly rubbing it. "Why?" I whisper into the nothingness. But no one hears me, because I feel as if I am all alone again._

Then, I woke up.


	2. March 18, 2009

March 18, 2009~

_"Life is difficult, but it goes on. Remember that, Renesmee," Edward says, knelt before me, stroking my bronze curls. And then, we are forced to enter the courtroom. I know my life is about to change._

I cannot remember much of the trial. I remember standing in the county courthouse in Hackensack, and all of the people packed into the room. I remember Edward struggling to complete his testimony. I remember Jasper looking as if he was going to attack the lawyer who was questioning him (not ours). His black eyes were boring a whole through the little man with square glasses and a sweaty forehead. The lawyer would pace back and forth nervously and stare at my uncle, shuddering every five seconds. He reminded me of J Jenks, whom Bella had to deal with in Breaking Dawn.

The one part I remember most was when the two girls from Port Angeles High showed up; the one with copper hair and the really big one. The ones that almost killed me. And beside them, were the two ice cream men—Mac and his friend who claimed they knew our secret. They didn't say anything.

They were the ones who nearly killed me in the championship game against the Forks Spartans.

Oooh, they were gonna get it big time. I'd lunged at them, but Kerry held me back reassuringly. "Forget them," she'd told me.

"How can I?" I growled. But severely injuring me wasn't enough for them. They got up and said darkly, "They're vampires. We know they are because we've seen them before in the woods sucking the blood of an innocent deer."

"Is there any proof of this theory?" the judge asked. Obviously he did not believe the two girls. But then, they held up a picture.

"Allow us to show you the way they feed on it," Copper Girl said matter-of-factly. In the photo, there was blood dripping down their chins as theyf ed on the deer.

Edward's face had turned white all over. He bared his teeth and snarled so audibly that the crowd gasped in fear. Carlisle put a hand on his shoulder and Emmett grabbed him as my father glared viciously at the two girls standing in front of him mockingly. Then, I noticed.

Their chalky colorless skin; their bloodred eyes; they were vampires themselves. "Come on, bloodsucker, fight me!" the girl with copper hair taunted. My father's eyes were wild and he managed to snarl, "I'll kill you."

And that was it. People were fainting. Cameras were flashing from the press. I could just see the next day's headlines already: **VAMPIRE NIGHT**, **STEPHENIE MEYER'S _TWILIGHT_ IS REAL**, **ACTORS FROM THE VAMPIRE MOVIE WEREN'T ACTING** and **KIDNAPPERS BEHIND THE CASE ARE** **BLOODSUCKERS** and things such as those. I choked back tears as police handcuffed my family. The FBI stood nearby and forced me and Kerry away from our loved ones. But Carlisle, who did not strain against the cuffs, came to us calmly and said, "The other covens have been captured as well, but there is another out there in the United States called the Underworld coven. They are teenage nomads who are very powerful. You must find them, and they are easy to spot because of their exotic eye colors. They all have ebony black hair and very white skin. There are seven of them—no, eight because of their newest member. He is the only one who does not have black hair, but he may have an enhanced eye color." A police man grabbed Carlisle's arm forcefully, and my grandfather said quickly, "You must find them. They are going to save us." Then, my family was loaded into the back of a SWAT team truck, along with the other covens, the Irish and Denalis and the Amazons. Then, I'd lost it.

"Sorry about your idiot family, jerks," the big girl sneered.

"You wanna piece of me, fatty?!" I shouted back to her.

"Nessie, take it easy," Kerry murmured to me.

"I'll take it easy when I'm dead," I hissed. "That's right, fatso, I'm talking to you." The girl turned around, her red eyes seeming scarier than before. But I didn't back down.

"What'd you call me?" she asked me.

"A fatso!" I hollered. "A big, fat, ugly person!"

"You better watch it," she warned. The copper haired girl bared her teeth and rumbled.

"Bring it," I taunted. "I've got nothing to lose!"

The girl leaped at me, but I flipped over her and landed on her back, slamming her to the ground with my feet. She threw a punch at my shoulder and hit me hard, sending me flying backward into the judge's stand. Good thing he wasn't present. But she wasn't done yet. She gripped my arms, pinning them to the wood so I couldn't move. Then, she launched her big meaty fist at my face. I ducked just in time and her hand went through the wood making a loud cracking noise. I crawled underneath her legs and was about to escape, when she grasped my ankle and dragged me back toward her. I clawed at Kerry's outstretched hand, but copper girl kicked Kerry aside and squashed my hand with her foot. I yelped and felt the big girl's hand on my neck. Lithely, I jumped up and drop-kicked her in the face, spinning around and rocketing my foot right into her fat face. Then, I thrust my foot into her back, hearing a satisfying crunch. I wrenched her hands back behind her, stretching them far up and hearing in pleasure her painful scream. Her stomach was on the floor, her back arched in an agonizing position. I yanked her arms back farther, making her scream go a few octaves higher just as security guards pulled us away from each other. "Let's go," the one officer told me. I spat at the fat girl as the man guided me and Kerry away from the scene.

Part II:

Obviously the trial didn't go well. Nothing else did either. I was sent back to the Brenner household, becoming Charlotte again, but staying my Nessie appearance. I still had my powers and vampire abilities. The first day I go back to school, though, is today.

As if things weren't bad enough already, our old school in Randale extended itself into a high school as well, so now it would just be like eighth grade all over again. Too bad.

My classmates are shocked to see me. They all ask me where I've been, while others are afraid and keep their distance from me. Gabby is thrilled to see me again and I plan to fill her in at lunch recess. She'll want to know what's been going on with my vampire life.

While all this is occurring, I have to keep my eyes peeled for the Underworld coven. It should be easy—night-black hair, startlingly white skin, exotic eyes; they are most likely going to be distinguished from other humans. But where are they? Are they even in New Jersey? Carlisle is smart enough though to figure that my adoptive parents would never let me out of the house and on an airplane alone ever again. They have to be somewhere around here…

The rest of the day drags on interminably. At recess, I am ready to tell Gabby but Megan, Carrie, Christina, Haley, and she are playing basketball with the guys. Donnie, Rob, Spood, John, the new kid Maximillian, and Joe are on the other team. I go to the left side of the court by the basketball hoop. Reluctantly, I try to get open and receive a pass. Maximillian is standing beside me quietly, his bright blue eyes sparkling even though there is no sun, his shaggy chestnut hair hanging in his face…

Wait a second; the blue looks so…enhanced.

Bright blue?!

I stride to him and tap him on the shoulder. It is then that I realize the unearthly pale skin and strange possibility that could be…

Holy crap.

"Hey, Maximillian, do you have color contacts?" I stammer nervously. My voice shakes uneasily as my mind grasps the concept that Maximillian is a teenage vampire from the Underworld coven. Oh boy.

He laughs, his voice sounding so perfect. It is like Edward's: velvet and soothing. I try not to think of my father, though. "I prefer Max…and no, Charlotte, I don't." He grins knowingly, flashing a set of white, razor-sharp teeth.

"Uh…ok." I turn to go hastily, but his frozen marble hand grips my wrist. "Listen closely," he tells me secretively. "I know what you're looking for. The Underworld coven…of vampires."

I stare at him, astonished. "How do you know?"

"I can read minds," he informs me. Immediately I think of Edward.

"Like your father." He pauses. "I know what it's like to be adopted. I was, too. But that has nothing to do with me being a vampire."

We turn around slowly to see that everyone is watching us carefully, their jaws dropping open. Except for Gabby, because she knows what's going on. I think. "Get on with the game!" Max tells them. "Charlotte and I aren't playing anymore."

Rob shoots Max a look of jealousy. What does he think we're doing? Discussing date plans? He would never know the truth though. So, he can think whatever the heck he wants to think.

Max grasps my hand tighter. Awkwardness… "I am the newest member of the Underworld coven," he says.

"Oh…well that explains your brown hair."

"Your grandfather Carlisle told you about us; to find us to help save your family." He hesitates. "I have to contact my coven immediately."

My hands begin to get sweaty, for the first time. "Now? But we're in school!"

He grabs my hand and rushes me across the blacktop. People begin to stare. "It's an emergency," he urges. "You don't understand how bad this is."

Now I start to panic. I am woken from the daze that I have been in for weeks now from being away from my family. "What do you mean?"

Max turns to face me and laughs bitterly. "I mean exactly what I'm saying, Nessie." Well, that was uncalled for. He used my real name instead of my fake one.

"Please, Max, tell me what's going on."

"We're getting Piper."

"Who's Piper?" I ask.

"Piper is in second grade. She is the youngest member of the Underworld coven but one of the smartest," he tells me without bothering to face me.

A second-grader? "Aren't vampire children against the Volturi's rules?" I ask Max tautly.

He pauses. "The Underworld coven was once part of the Volturi guard, but branched off into their own group after they were sent to restore order in the rest of the world during the uprising in the late 1800s. Your uncle Jasper was a part of that little commotion."

That's right…he explained his story to Bella in Eclipse.

"Does Piper know what's going on?"

"Yes," Max says. "She can sense moods in any case and guess what the problem is."

"Cool beans," I think aloud.

"Yeah," Max replies, grinning. "Cool beans."

Piper is in Mrs. McNeil's second grade class. Max is grasping my wrist so hard that it hurts, and then he suddenly busts open the door. The second graders stare at us in astonishment. "We need to speak to Piper," Max says darkly.

Mrs. McNeil sighs. "Piper, your brother needs to talk to you."

Piper immediately stands up and gallops to us. Max shuts the door and Piper looks up at me for the first time. She has curly black hair; curls so wild that not even the strongest gel could contain them. It isn't frizzy, but looks very hard to brush through. Her eyes are a dazzling, incredible royal green that reminds me of artificial green drink mix. She is very short, no more then four feet tall and her skin is as white as mine.

"Ah," Piper says. "A Cullen."

"Um...," I hesitate.

"She needs the Underworld coven's help," Max told Piper quickly. "Carlisle requested it."

"Carlisle," Piper repeats. "I've met Carlisle in my days…is he tall and blonde?"

"Um, yeah," I say.

"That's him."

"Oh, ok. So, help is what you need? We contain unique powers that can solve your needs. What is it that you implore?"

Piper is very sophisticated, I can tell; even by the way she talks. "My family was taken to a federal laboratory after they were revealed."

"Oooh, that's tough…for you," Piper says. "But we can get them out if we time ourselves. The government will try to turn them into weapons and will fight us at any chance they get. They know that there is something different about you and Violet, too, so do not think you are 'off the hook'."

Violet? "Oh…Kerry," I remember.

"Who?" Max and Piper ask in unison.

"Violet's second name is Kerry," I explain. "But back to the issue. Where is this laboratory?"

Piper thinks for a second. "Bristol will be able to determine that. She will track the Cullens. We will send her out at nightfall, Max."

"Bristol's a tracker?" I say.

"A good kind of tracker. She does not feed on humans. Your cousin Violet will be safe."

"Okay. When should I meet you guys, or…"

"Tonight is the eve of September 13th. We will meet in the wilderness near your home at dusk."

September 13th—Bella's birthday. My birthday as Renesmee has already passed…does that mean that I am fifteen? But Bella…she will spend her birthday in a laboratory, if she is even still there. I miss my mother terribly, and I wish that I could see her smiling face again. Her laugh made me laugh along, and her hugs were the perfect medicine for anything…

Piper leaves, going back to the classroom to resume her schoolwork. Max and I are left standing in the hallway alone, and for once, I feel that our plan is impossible.

Part III:

Kerry is at my house that day of September 12th. She has been depressed ever since we were forced away from the Cullens, and it breaks my heart to see her in such a way. Her golden eyes glint with a sadness that looks inconsolable. We sit at the Brenners' kitchen table and try to focus on homework that we know will never be done. Kerry is in eighth grade now, while I am in ninth. I feel as if I am learning eighth grade things from going to ninth grade before in Forks.

I try to explain Piper and Max's plan to Kerry. "They know what they're doing. They've been vampires for over 100 years…well, Max hasn't, but the others have," I try to tell her.

"Yeah. So what?" she says glumly. She scribbles a few more answers down on her math sheet.

"Kerry, listen. You have to pick your head up and just believe that we can do this. Stop moping."

Kerry picks her head up this time and looks me square in the eye. I want to look away, but her gold irises meet my brown ones. "That's easy for you to say. You come back and everyone hangs over you like you'll disappear again. For me, people think I'm some sort of freak now! I'm just that girl that helped you get away! Nothing important. It doesn't matter if Kerry is back anymore!"

"Kerry, stop it. Everyone missed you, and you know it. Besides, Rosalie and Emmett are your parents. There's no difference between me and you!!"

"Yes there is! You are Renesmee Cullen! Everyone thought you were fictional but you were with them the entire time!"

I stand up to tower over her. "Violet Eclipse is just as important! Is this jealousy? Are you jealous that I'm Renesmee? Are you?! Because I can't control the fact that I am half vampire! Do you think I want that? No!! I wish Bella and Edward and I and the rest of us were normal! We would still be together if we were. We would live in Forks in peace. No 'mythaphobia'. No werewolves. Everything would be fine! We would be born like regular children. We wouldn't be so pale anymore. We wouldn't stand out! I wish that I could be in a world like that. I just wish. But we aren't. And this is real. So suck it up and accept the fact that this is really happening."

Kerry purses his lips and I think that she will shout something at me. Instead she drops her head onto the table and begins sobbing.

"Kerry, are you okay?" I ask sheepishly. "I'm sorry I made you cry. Are you okay?"

"It's not you," she answers miserably. "It's me. I'm getting myself so worked up just thinking about them…this isn't fair! Why can't we just live with our real parents?!"

I sigh deeply. "I don't know. But that's what we're trying to do…get them back before it's too late. Now let me just explain our plan to you." And I tell her exactly what Max and Piper conspired earlier.

"Are you sure this will work?" she says.

"Positive." Then, Anna walks down into the kitchen. Chloe Sollino, her best friend, is with her and they both stare at us suspiciously. Chloe comes toward us. Kerry is ready to back away, but she stays put in her chair.

"Are you guys really the Cullen kids?" she asks quietly.

We both nod.

"You've met Edward?"

"Yup."

"Wow. That's really cool."

Part IV:

I sit at the dinner table with Kerry, and we eye each other nervously. At any minute, we will get up and run to the woods near Greenwood Park. We push our chairs away from the table and stand up simultaneously. "I'm not hungry anymore," I declare.

"Me neither," Kerry says.

"Sit down, Charlotte," Dan orders. I shoot him an icy glare…a glare that Edward taught me how to use.

"We're going to the field to meet a few friends," Kerry tells them.

"Which friends?" Maria asks.

"Max, Piper, and Bristol," I list. "Now we must go."

Dan stands up and Kerry and I back away to the door, our prepared bags slung over our shoulders. "Don't you two dare to think of escaping again," he warns.

"We won't," I lie. "God…always suspecting things."

"C'mon Ness—er, Charlotte," Kerry says and we race out the front door.

As soon as we hit the big pine tree in the Brenners' yard, we break into a run. My vampire strength makes me move faster, and, unfortunately, Kerry can't keep up with the scary-fast speed. So, I slow down.

"It's just Piper, Max, and Bristol?"

"Probably not," I say as we near Randale Ave. "There are most likely more of them who are older."

Kerry cracks her knuckles. "I hope they're nice."

The field is dark and misty. Crickets chirp in the woods and the grass squishes underneath my feet from a recent rainfall. Kerry's eyes dart nervously around the area and she bites her fingernails.

"Stop it," I say, smacking her hand down.

"Sorry," she replies. "I'm just nervous."

We walk to the center of the large field. The sun's rays streak through the clouds and sky, giving off just enough light to see around. The woods are silent and still, but I can hear the rush of the creek. A slight wind ripples the grass and I shiver from the chilly September wind. Then, a soft voice sings from behind us, "Hello, brave ones."

Kerry and I whip around to see a girl with pin-straight black hair down to her waist. Her luminescent pale skin glows eerily and her eyes are a rich spring green, even more startling than Piper's. She is wearing a fern colored cashmere sweater with brown leggings and dark brown Ugg boots. There is a faint sparkle to her skin from the dim sunlight and she is stunningly beautiful…

"I am Olive," she says, smiling. "I am the elder sister of Piper, and the younger sister of Bristol. My brothers are Sonic, Harvey, Percy, and Rex. Max is an ally. We are the Underworld coven."

"You look like Piper," I stutter.

"Yes, I do. We have similar eyes. Green is unusual for a vampire, as is blue and purple. These colors represent our significant power," she explains, sauntering toward us. Kerry is paralyzed with fear. "W-where are the others?"

As if on cue, the five of them appear out of the building fog.

"Sonic, Rex, and Harvey," Olive begins, "these are the Cullen children."

"Hi," Kerry whispers.

"Hello." It is Sonic, the oldest I am guessing, who speaks. He has an "emo" haircut, and looks like Adam Lambert from American Idol. Except, his hair is a deeper black, his skin is pure white, and his eyes are a brilliant dodger blue. Rex has curly black hair that sticks out in every direction and the same chalky skin as his siblings. His eyes are a dark midnight green shade, like a cross between Olive's and Sonic's eyes. Next is Harvey. He has shaggy ebony hair that hangs in his eyes, and miraculous violet irises. Piper is beside Harvey, her tight, waist-length curls pulled back in a loose ponytail, leaving some released in the front. Max is next to her. But…two are missing…

"Bristol and Percy," Max says. I jump when he says it, because I know it is directed to me, but then I remember he can read minds. "They are not here."

"Our sister is tracking your family," Rex says, his deep voice as smooth as velvet. "And our brother is waiting at your school with his car."

"Oh goody," Kerry answers. Harvey shoots her a cold look that makes her say, "I wasn't being sarcastic."

I adjust my bag over my shoulder, letting it rustle against my sweatshirt to let them know that we have our bags readied. Piper looks toward me.

"I see you are ready for the journey," she announces darkly.

I nod, and Kerry sighs. "Where is the lab?"

"A secret location," Sonic tells us. "Once Bristol finds their scent, she will call us and tell us where the lab is located. Hopefully that will be soon."

"Yeah," I agree. "My foster parents will be wondering where I am if I'm not back home soon and the first place they look will be here."

"Same," Kerry mutters.

"Well then, we must discuss our plans for the escape," Percy says, his eyes sparkling.

Part V:

The sun is almost completely gone as we travel alongside Randale Ave. Piper leads the way as we run through Memorial Field and the woods and small neighborhoods. They are all quick and lithe, but I can keep up with their graceful movements. Kerry, not so much.

"Slow down!" she hisses from behind someone's trash can. Sonic, Piper, and Harvey had just leaped over it and are sprinting across the crosswalk at a busy intersection.

"We are getting closer to town," Rex says as he jumps out of the way of a car. It beeps its horn and drives away.

Olive runs with me and Max, her silky black hair blowing from the wind of her speed. If she can run fast in Uggs, I'd want to see how fast she can go in racing sneakers.

"Please slow down," Kerry pants. "I can't go that fast."

Max sighs. "Get on my back."

"Yes!" she smiles and hops on, buckling her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck.

The sky is black with stars speckled through the heavens when we reach the school parking lot. We wait by the Dumpster for Percy in his blue Jeep.

"I will go find him," Olive declares, and she races off into the night.

I stir uncomfortably next to Max and Kerry, thinking about the Brennans and how they are most likely calling the police by now. I check my phone, but there are no missed calls from them. Maybe they don't care anymore…

I only hope.

Piper and Sonic are talking silently behind the Dumpster, discussing in voices so low and quiet that I cannot recognize what they are saying. Rex and Harvey are sitting on the wooden beams that blockade the dirt from leaking into the lot. Suddenly, Rex's phone rings and he answers it immediately. "Yes…yes…we have them…how many?...three, ah yes…okay…we'll meet you halfway…yes, sister…goodbye."

We all look at him expectantly.

"It was Bristol. She's found the lab outside a small rural town in New York State. She says all but three have escaped."

My heart skips a beat and I jolt. "Who are the three?"

Rex shrugs. "I don't know. Bristol was very vague on information. But she found the lab, and she will meet us halfway."

"How do we know where it is?" Kerry asks.

"GPS," Harvey says. "Bristol told us the town, so we just have to put it in." I didn't know vampires used GPSs.

"Oh right," Kerry snorts. "The magic of technology."

Just then, Percy's big blue Jeep rolls into the parking lot. He looks exactly like Harvey, but with the Rex's eyes. I guess that they are identical twins, except for the eyes part. Olive is in the passenger seat, her brow furrowed and her arms folded stubbornly across her chest.

Percy swerves into a spot and leaps out. Olive trails behind him, the same disappointed expression on her face. Percy tosses Sonic the keys without a word, but Olive pouts.

"What's wrong with you?" Rex asks playfully. He bumps her a little and she frowns even harder. "Percy won't let me drive."

"You're fourteen," Sonic says, getting into the driver's seat. Max, Piper, Kerry, and I follow Harvey, Percy, and Olive into the backseat.

"Am not!" Olive insists. "I'm turning 231 in a few weeks. I'm old enough to drive."

"You are fourteen. Permanently. There's no way around it," Rex says matter-of-factly. The engine roars to life as Sonic jams the keys into the transmission.

"Make room for Bristol," Piper squeaks from the backseat. I forget she is even with us. She hasn't spoken in a while.

"There is barely any room," Kerry snaps, squeezing tighter to me. Her elbow jabs into my thigh.

"Oww! Watch it, Kerr," I scold. I am stuck in between Olive and Kerry in the backseat with Max as well. Four is too big a number.

Sonic speeds down the road at an amazing speed, going at least eighty miles an hour on the small town roads. Once we reach New York highway, it is about eleven o'clock at night. I left a message at home saying that I was very sorry and that I probably wasn't going to come back alive, but I appreciated the time I had with the Brenners. I thanked Anna for trying to back me up in the church and at the trial, and that she was a great sister and I wished that I could keep her forever. Then, I slowly drifted to sleep…

Part VI:

A faint streak of sunlight shines into the tight car through the window. I check the clock on the dashboard. It is around five in the morning and I sigh deeply. It is time to wake up.

Kerry is still asleep beside me, but Max and Olive are awake. So are the other five. I yawn and turn to Olive. She is grinning, her bright green eyes sparkling in the sunlight. "Good morning, sleepy!"

"Hey, Olive."

"You slept a while. For a second I thought you were dead, but then I remembered that humans are supposed to sleep that much!" She turns to stare at Kerry. "She sure does sleep a lot."

"Yeah, she does. Don't you remember sleeping?"

"I'm 230 and a half. I can't remember sleeping at all."

"Oooh. Wasn't 230 years ago in 1779?"

"Yup. But I've been like this for 216 years."

"How did you become…a vampire?"

"It was 1793 in Philadelphia. My brothers, sisters and I were dying of yellow fever in an orphanage. Our parents were already gone, but our mother asked the doctor to save us when she was dying. The only way he could save us was by turning us into vampires, and so that is what happened."

"How did you become part of the Volturi?" I say.

"After we managed to escape from the fever-stricken town, we ran into other nomads. They claimed that vampires have red or gold eyes, not blue, green, and purple. They told us that we had special powers that should be used by the Volturi. So, being only simple-minded young vampires, we travelled to Volterra, Italy and became part of the guard. Life on the guard was…interesting. We changed our names because the original eight children that we were, in Philadelphia, were dead. I was Olivia Underwood. Sonic and Bristol, who were Simon and Bryant, were ranked high in the Volturi guard. Their powers were the most special out of all of us, along with Piper, formerly Polly, who was a favorite partner of Jane. You must've run across her once or twice."

"Yeah," I agree. "She's been mentioned." A shudder ripples down my spine and I take a deep breath. "Tell me more."

"Percy, Harvey, our other brother Track and I stayed with the rest of the guard. Percy, Track, and Harvey, or Preston, Trevor, and Harold, used to hunt. I never did approve of the idea, so I was the first to become a vegetarian. My family followed, and soon, I became more fascinated in art. My thoughts drifted often, and I became more oblivious to my surroundings. Both my names mean 'peace', and clearly being a monster was not restoring peace.

"Percy and Harvey noticed my sudden changes more than the others did. My eyes became a foggy, unforgiving green instead of the usual bright emerald they were. I became paler and less alive. Aro, Caius, and Marcus were too preoccupied with the uprising in North America to notice my changes. The other members of the guard were waiting…waiting…for the right time to kill me. They knew that my differences had had a strange impact on me against other vampires—we could be worn out when too much power was used. They stalked me and watched me and waited. Felix and Demetri were impatient, as were Jane and Alec; they wanted to finish me off. By now, Bristol, Piper, and Sonic were gone with Chelsea, Afton, Demetri, Heidi, and Corin. Renata, Santiago, Felix, Alec, Jane, Percy, Track, Harvey, and I were still in Volterra in case we needed to be called for 'backup'. We did, and we wound up going. I was plain miserable as we travelled across the globe to resolve the problem in North America. I would scream in the middle of the nights as we rode on top of cargo trains speeding through valleys, thinking about the horrors of my very last human memories—the burn of yellow fever, poisoning my blood and flowing through my veins as it devoured my health. The venom was worse; it shot through me like toxic blue flames…this strange syndrome was the con of our extreme power. We felt presences and experienced events unlike any other vampire had. And, once we were weakened, the ripping and burning wasn't required to exterminate us. We would die on our own.

"We arrived in the Southern United States to find a disturbance in the vampire existence. Aro told us to put an end to it somehow, so we tried. The fighting was awful. Imagine thousands of newborn vampires, attacking only fifteen…it was my worst nightmare yet…

"Track…was killed. He was my twin, so his death weakened me even more. In one battle, I dropped to the ground as a newborn was about to finish me off. Percy saved me in the nick of time, but things were getting worse. Aro, Caius, and Marcus were called in to help us finish the newborns off. It was the first time they'd ever left Volterra, and it was a big deal. One time, I crawled away from the fighting and sobbed tearlessly about how my life was falling apart. I wanted to be dead with my mother and father and Track…but I knew that wouldn't happen. I wasn't weak enough yet. One soldier, a Confederate vampire, came to me, his bloodred eyes boring a hole through me. His hair was honey golden, and he carried a big gun. I pleaded him to finish me off, but he just stared at me, amazed at my power and simply shook his head. He wouldn't kill me and he was against us! I couldn't believe what was happening.

"I decided to try and kill myself after that. I ran into a field during a thunderstorm, miles away from the battlefield. Lightning was striking down trees and the rain was swirling around me, but I remained untouched. I hid in the high grass, silently crying.

"I was there in that position for several months, my mind slowly disintegrating into nothing. I often thought about death or infinite equations, but towards the end just death. One day, Sonic found me and told me that everything was over: there was no more fighting and the Volturi had gone back to Italy without us because Bristol and he had insisted on finding me. Aro was no happy with their decision, but in the end he reluctantly let us go. So, Sonic came to find me. He carried me to the middle of the forest where Bristol and the others nourished me with animal blood until I was healthy again. We continued to live nomadically throughout the States and even Canada, and eventually I put my past behind me and grew to love life. Decades later, Harvey received Carlisle's distressed call for help telepathically to protect you—just a few weeks ago actually. We had come across the Cullen family here and there…and the soldier that refused to kill me became a part of them. We were willing to do anything for them especially after the soldier kept me alive." Olive beams and shrugs. "And that's our story."

"So I'm guessing _Underworld Coven _came from your original last name…Underwood."

"Yes. But other vampires also believed that because we were so powerful and could cause mass destruction, we were from the Land of the Dead. Almost like some sort of curse."

I nod, then think of another question. "Jasper refused to kill you?" I ask in awe.

Olive nods. "That was his name. Yes and his mate is the little one…Alice, I believe."

"_Alice_," I repeat, remembering the pixie-like girl. She had become one of my best friends.

"And there was the dark-haired man, the blonde-haired woman, and the bronze-haired man as well. And of course Carlisle and his mate Esme," Olive recalls.

"Emmett is the dark-haired one and Rosalie has the fair hair. They are mates, and Ke—Violet's parents."

"…What about the bronze-haired man? Last time I saw him, he did not have a mate and he looked rather…sour, if you know what I mean."

"That's Edward. He's my father, and my mother is Bella. Edward fell in love with her while she was still human and they got married and had me. Bella was dying while giving birth to me, because she was still mortal, so Edward changed her."

"Fascinating…," Olive murmurs, grinning. "We all have interesting stories to tell."

"Yeah," I agree, staring out the window. The moon is still in the sky, while the sun competes with it. I think of home, with all my family there waiting for me…

Part VII:

Time drifts. It drifts through the landscapes that one travels amidst and doesn't slow down; not one second does it slow. It just keeps going faster and faster until it reaches a new day…

We are riding down a dirt road with old wooden fences and tall trees on each side. Beyond the fences lie rolling farm hills and more forests and mountains.

Percy received a call from Bristol with the address of the lab, but Bristol was being held after she was discovered trying to escape. They aren't experimenting on her, more so just in something close to a little jail cell for disobedience. She was allowed one call, so she chose to warn us.

"We will be arriving at our destination shortly," the GPS chirps as the Jeep rolls down the roads through the small farm town.

"I think this is the place," Sonic announces, peering through the windshield at a long driveway and gate surrounded by thick woods leading back to what looks like a headquarters building. The formal sign stands outside the gate reading: UNTIED STATES FEDERAL INVESTIGATION IN SCIENCE LABORATORIES.

"Welcome to hell," Max mutters as Sonic rears around on the street with a mighty push to the pedal. We back up, but then buck forward into the woods, despite the chain fence we just destroyed.

The Jeep is maneuvered swiftly throughout the trees, Sonic's large blue eyes intently focused on the view ahead of him. The ride is bumpy, and with each jolt, we knock into each other violently.

"Couldn't there have been an easier way to do this?!" Kerry cries. Olive's and Max's heads collided, but they didn't say anything. Max simply thunders, "Watch those tree roots!!"

"Yeah really," Olive says, elbowing Max in the gut.

Rex grasps onto his seat up front and shuts his eyes. "Watch it, Sonic, or you're gonna get us all killed!"

"Ha ha very funny," Sonic says, the sarcasm thick in his voice. But I can tell he is tense.

The large modern laboratory building comes into view. The Jeep emerges from the woods and rolls out onto the paved driveway and into the parking lot. Sonic pulls into a spot, and we file out quickly. Rex and Percy inspect the damage.

"Well it certainly does _look_ like we took a drive through the woods," Rex snorts.

"Is that a dent?!" Percy shrieks, but Piper yanks him along behind us as we race to a small array of bushes and a trickling fountain. We crouch and wait, but no one says anything.

"Perfect," Harvey spits. "Now what, genius?" We all look over at Sonic, who is pondering over what to do next.

"We could always just _break in_," Max suggests, but Sonic shakes his head disapprovingly.

"I don't think so," he says. "The humans will just take it as another threat." Then he pauses, and his face lights up. "Or we could always just get in the old fashioned way." He grins mischievously. When no one says anything, he says, "One word: distraction."

I guess we are all miraculously thinking the same exact thing, because at the same time everyone turns to stare at Kerry. She is crouched beside me, and hasn't said much ever since the journey began. But now, I am guessing, she will have to.

"Violet," Piper begins. "Are you a good actress?"

"Huh?" Kerry peers up from the plant leaf she was fumbling with. "Am I a good what?"

"Actress."

"I guess, but…" Then she notices us watching her like prey. "Hey if this is a scheme for distractions and I have to fall out a window or something, I'm not doing it."

"You won't have to fall out a window," Harvey assures her. "But maybe something like…"

Part VIII:

"HELP!!!" Olive screams at the top of her lungs. "SOMEBODY HELP US!!"

She, Rex, and Harvey are knelt beside Kerry outside the front doors of the laboratory, shaking the girl lying on the concrete sidewalk. Kerry indeed has to play dead, and I must admit that she is pretty good at it.

A man in a white lab coat rushes outside. "What is the matter?"

"Our friend passed out and I can't get her to wake up and I don't know if it's from that Burger King we ate or what but all of a sudden she just fell because you see my dad works here and we were coming to visit him…" Olive gushes quickly as the man inspects Kerry's limp wrist for a pulse. Meanwhile, Piper, Max, Percy, and I rush into the building as Sonic agilely reaches into the man's back pocket and pulls out an ID. unnoticed. He follows us into the building, and we hide behind a wall as Sonic hands the ID. to Percy.

"How is this going to help us?" I whisper.

Just then, Percy takes his thumb and rubs it up and down the ID. After his thumb slides past the plastic, he extends his fingers and to reveal four more ID's in his hand. One has a photo of Percy, another of Max, and ones of Sonic, Piper, and me as well.

"Whoa," I stutter. "I didn't know vampires had the ability to change an object into something they wanted like that."

Percy's midnight green eyes twinkle. "They don't call us a curse for nothing."

We power-walk down the hallways, which are blank-white sterile corridors that are almost identical. Blue doors with room numbers line the walls. I feel like I am in a hospital.

My ID hangs around my neck on a black string. Finally, Sonic stops us and says, "We have to split up. Piper and Nessie, you keep going down this corridor. Max, Percy, and I will go down here. We will try to find the Cullens." He turns to Piper. "Bristol is down your way. Track her scent, get her, and then find us. Please hurry."

Piper nods, and we walk down the hall in such at such a fast pace, that we are literally only blurred figures. She leads me through the labyrinth as if it is her own home, then stops at a door marked 666.

The Devil's number.

Piper breathes in deeply, sniffing the air, and says darkly, "Bristol is not in here, but someone else familiar is."

"Should we go in?"

Piper's brilliant green eyes sparkle deviously as she holds up her ID. "Why not? We _do_ work here." She pushes open the door and we walk into a room with a large glass container, like a zoo exhibit, on the side wall. Lab tables are scattered here and there. But something catches my eye…

Behind the glass wall is a sleeping figure. He lies on the floor, his body cold and untouched. Like a zombie, I walk to the glass and press my nose against it.

"Be careful, Nessie!" Piper orders.

But I keep my sight centered on the passed out man. As if on command, I knock my fist on the glass.

"_Nessie!_" Piper screeches in a whisper. "What are you _crazy?!_"

The man shudders and slowly shuffles to his feet, his back still to me. A long black cape is draped over his shoulders. And then, he turns around.

Before I realize what I am doing, Piper clamps a hand over my mouth. "_Nessie! We have to get out of here! You woke up_…" She pauses, her hand still over my mouth. The man towers over us, glaring down with his bloodred eyes. His deathly pale skin is whiter than paper itself, and his hair is a deep black streaked with a dead bronze.

Edward.

"Piper! Piper!" I muffle into her hand, but she is frozen in horror.

"It's…your…father…," she mumbles, awe-struck.

I manage to rip her hand away from my mouth. Panting, I say, "Piper, we have to get out of here! _Now!!_"

Edward, or the evil clone of Edward, pulls his lips apart to bear his ferocious razor-sharp fangs.

"PIPER, _NOW!!!!"_ I scream.

Edward raises his hands above his head, cupping them together as a strong purple light forms beneath his fingers.

"RUN!!" she cries, grasping my hand as we scramble out the door. We are inches away from it when suddenly, a huge force blasts us through the door and sends us flying into the wall on the other side of the corridor. The blow results in my head spinning and throbbing, but I regain my balance among the fried rubble and metal.

"Hurry, Piper!" I yell as we run blindly through the now-frightening white halls. We sprint for what seems like forever, until Piper yanks me into a room and slams the door shut. Panting, we keep our backs against the door and slide downward to the ground. I shut my eyes. Was I dreaming? What had they done to my father?! Then, I open my eyes and look around the room.

"You are safe," a soothing voice coos. We look up to see a beautiful girl with long black hair like Olive's, neon purple eyes, and white skin standing before us: Bristol.

Then, I woke up.


	3. April 19, 2009

April 19, 2009~

We did manage to escape from the laboratory with Bristol, but unfortunately not with my family. Edward and two other unknown Cullens broke free after Edward tried to vanquish Piper and me in our attempt to save him. So, we are in hiding; a small, countryside motel is where we are now. Days here remind me of the trailer park with Jacob, Michelle, Leah, Chris, and Paul—long and boring. I spend most of the time with Olive, Max, and Kerry (or now better known as Violet). Ever since the breakout, there have been no near sightings of the three destructive vampires, which is good and bad at the same time. But as all hope seems lost, a small shimmer of light glows valiantly at the end of the dark tunnel…

Kerry, Max, and I are walking along the streets of the small town just a few miles west of the lab. On the glass display window of a shop, I notice a poster with the pictures from our trial. "Yikes" is all I have to say.

"What are you looking at?" Kerry asks, suddenly coming up behind me and leaning in to read the sign. Her topaz eyes scan it eagerly, and then she suddenly stops and pulls back. There is a huge grimace on her face. "That's gross!" she retorts, still scowling.

"What is it??" Max asks, abruptly coming up behind me as well.

"Can I please have some space here?!" I say, annoyed. Kerry and Max completely ignore my request and push me into the glass window.

"It's not bad, Violet," Max says, still circumspectly studying the ad. "These average people, just your normal 'Joes' off the street…they're coming together to form some kind of team that's going to help you and Nessie! They're rebelling against the government's choice to do experiments on your family. That's incredible!"

"Ohmigod," Kerry gasps, "We could like, SO join the rebels because we're supernatural! We _do_ have a chance at saving them ourselves!" She grasps my shoulders and shakes me hysterically. "We can liberate our parents without getting killed!"

"How do you know the government won't fight back?" I ask.

"Yeah," Max adds. "This is one of the world's greatest discoveries. They would never relinquish as easy as we hope."

"So what?" Kerry urges. "We have to help. This is all for our sakes. If we don't help them, they might fail."

Max and I exchange hesitant glances.

"C'mon," Kerry pleads. "We need to be a part of this army. We're gonna save the people that mean the most to us." She puts on the puppy dog pout and gets her eyes all watery.

"Oh, stop _it_, Kerry," I snap, but she keeps pouting.

Max bites his lip. "Fine. We'll do it. We'll meet at the town square tonight and that's that."

"Yes!" Kerry shouts. Score one for me!"

"Eh whatever," I say. "I was gonna suggest it, but then I thought it was stupid."

"Yeah sure," Max jokes, bumping me a little.

Kerry laughs and Max just grins broadly, but I have a horrid notion that this will be the last time we are together like this.

When we get back to the motel, Olive is sitting at the little meal table with her head resting in her folded arms. Percy is sitting across from her, tapping his fingers on the wood, frowning.

"What's up with you two?" Kerry asks as Max shuts the door behind us.

Then Bristol emerges from the back room. Rex is standing behind her, carrying a suitcase.

"What are you doing with that, Rex?" I ask nervously, my voice shaking.

He looks up at me, his green-blue eyes full of pity. Bristol came forward. "Brave ones, this is not our battle. You must go on without us. We can no longer help you. We rescued you, and kept you safe for as long as we could. But now we must part."

Olive looks especially sad. She became a good friend of mine over the past week. I would miss her, but I know that I will be able to catch up with her eventually.

Kerry doesn't seem to grasp that concept though. "What about us?" she asks, her voice shrilly. "What will we do? What happens if Edward attacks us? What do we do, just die?!"

"You are strong," Piper says, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You will not fall against the one who seems all-powerful."

"But…Max? What about you? What about the army?" she asks, still desperate.

Max looks at his feet, then at Sonic standing over Percy at the table. "I will meet up with you when my duties are finished. For now I need to help save the Cullens," he announces darkly.

Everyone stares at him in shock, even Kerry and I.

Bristol nods. "That is very brave of you to accept the mission to protect their family. I understand your decision completely." She turns to her family. "We must go now. Max will join us later."

As the seven black-haired vampires file out the motel room door, Olive stops and locks eyes with me. "Good luck out there. The world is dangerous," she says, pulling me into a hug. "Don't die…please."

"I'll try, Olive," I promise. She pulls away and follows her family out of the dark room. In the parking lot, Piper looks back one last time. For the first time, I see a miserable and worried expression on her angelic face.

Part II:

There are about fifty people gathered in the center of the little town. A few street lamps are lit, illuminating the cobblestone street. Max, Kerry, and I approach quietly, slipping through the darkness unseen. In the middle of the square is a tall lanky boy with wild brown hair and light brown eyes. He looks about twenty years old. He is wearing old football pads and a military helmet.

"Who is _that_?" Kerry wonders aloud.

"I don't know," Max answers blankly. "But I think we should line up in front of where he's standing. That's what everyone else is doing."

We shuffle awkwardly to the end of the line and wait as it moves forward. When we reach the front, the boy is standing there with a big barrel of dirty sports pads behind him. Kerry eyes it suspiciously, but keeps her comments to herself.

"Why, hello there," the boy says enthusiastically. "I see we got ourselves the real deal fightin' for their flesh and blood."

"Huh?" Max says.

"Our very own Renesmee and Violet Cullen," the boy beams. I blush and look at my feet.

"I'm Reed," the boy says. "I'm runnin' this little militia here." He looks me square in the eye. "Don't worry; we're gonna save your parents."

I smile and shake his hand as he hands the three of us shoulder, knee, chest, and elbow pads along with an eccentric helmet. I got a traditional military helmet, like the one Reed is wearing. Kerry gets an old faded football helmet, and Max gets a hockey one.

"What are we supposed to do with these?" Kerry asks, examining the stinky equipment.

"Well put it on o' course," a skinny girl with two dirty braids says. Her round face is smudged with filth and her hazel eyes sparkle mischievously. The dim light of the lamps give her skin an eerie glow.

"Who are you?" Max questions, strapping on mismatched shoulder pads.

"I'm Betsy," the girl says. "That there's my brother Reed. We had pity on you two poor souls when we heard about your trial. That's just wrong, what they did to your momma and daddy." She leans in closer. "Are yous really a bunch o' vampires?" she asks.

I shake my head. "No. That's what they think. Those two girls used Photoshop with that deer picture. It's obvious."

Betsy laughs and slips on her old New York Giants helmet. I finish putting on my armor and then we all gather around for information.

"Listen up, ya'll!" Reed hollers over the people's noise. "We got them weapons right here, so me an' Jeremiah here are gonna train ya'll to handle 'em." He sighs and looks down at me and Kerry. "Tonight, we got our very own Cullen girls joinin' this army to save their parents. We're gonna help 'em take the government down. So let's do this!" The crowd cheers excitedly, but Kerry starts whacking her self in the head with her fist.

"You know that's not gonna affect you," I notify her. "You still have your helmet on."

"I don't care," Kerry murmurs.

Max shrugs and Jeremiah goes around the mob with a bucket of weapons.

"Shot the chainsaw," Max says and yanks a rusty one out of the bucket.

"Max are you crazy?!" Kerry shrieks. "A chainsaw?!"

"We're takin' 'em down!" Max cries, yanking on the string and letting the engine growl like an angry dog.

Hesitantly, I take a big gun that looks like an arsenal was robbed to get it. "Are you sure we're gonna do this?"

"Positive," Kerry says, taking a gun like mine. "Sweet machinery…"

"Whaddya think?" Betsy asks, approaching me on surprise.

"We look like we're about to go into a big city and do a mass murder," I tell her, grimacing.

"Aw, we ain't hurtin' a fly," Betsy chuckles. "We just makin' 'em scared o' us."

She walks away, but an awful feeling stays in my gut.

"Training begins _now_," Reed says, lining us up. He grabs me and puts me next to Max and Betsy, but I feel completely out of it.

Part III:

Rain shoots down from the black sky as the bus rides over the George Washington Bridge and into New York City. I gulp nervously. Yesterday, training was brutal. I feel as if the world is crashing down, and I'm the one who has to save the human race.

"You okay?" Max asks, bumping me a little.

"No," I mumble and keep my focus out the window.

"They're hidin' 'em in the Empire State Building," Jeremiah says to the bus driver, a kid who looks a little older than Reed. "That's where we need to go."

Hiding them? Last I knew, Edward and the others escaped. Unless the government caught up with them…

My mind drifts as the buildings get taller and taller…

_Atop the Chrysler Building, Edward and Rosalie look down on the bustling streets of New York. Edward has a long black cape draped over his shoulders, as he had in the laboratory. His now-black hair is gelled back like Dracula's and his death-white skin is dotted with raindrops. Rose sits across from him on a ledge, wearing a sleeveless red dress with Stiletto heels and startling red lipstick._

"_I sense her," Edward says. "I sense the girl from the laboratory."_

"_She is coming," Rose says darkly, her perfect voice rolling out like a serpent's. "With whom?"_

"_An army," Edward growls, the venom sizzling in his velvet voice. "She is planning to vanquish our masters."_

"_How dare they?!" she spits. She turns to her evil partner. "I will stop them from coming to the rooftop. Holding them off shall be simple." She smiles maliciously, her sharp fangs glistening, as a bolt of lightning strikes in the distance…_

I wake with a start as Max shakes me. "Nessie, Nessie, wake up!" he orders.

"Max," I begin quietly. "I know where they are." My voice gets louder as I stand up and squeeze into the aisle way. "Jeremiah! Reed! They are at the Chrysler Building, not the Empire State Building!"

"How do you know?" Jeremiah scoffs as a loud clash of thunder shakes the bus.

"Because I know where my father is! Just take us to the Empire State Building, _now_!!"

The bus swerves to the left and I fall back into the seat across Max's lap.

"Oops," I breathe and Max laughs.

But then, the huge skyscraper is towering over us, the rain showering down from the heavens like a bad omen.

"We're here," Max announces dismally. I gulp as the bus pulls to a complete halt.

"Everyone follow me!!" Reed hollers, and we grab our weapons and jump out of the bus. Taxis beep and buses honk, but Jeremiah halts the traffic with a huge ax he is handling carefully. And then, we barge right into the building.

People in formal outfits scream in horror as the scream of several chainsaws starting up roar throughout the lobby.

"Security!!" the man behind the desk shouts, and about twenty police officers with guns race toward us. Twenty of us race into the elevator just in the nick of time and shoot down to the basement.

The doors open and we file out, but what we see is extremely unexpected: an army of newborn vampires. Their eyes glow red with fury and there is Rosalie, standing in the middle of it all. Her eyes glow bloodred as well and she hisses as the newborns spring into action. I neatly dodge a few of them and rip another few apart. I watch in horror as they pull out huge machine guns and begin firing at my allies.

"MAX!! KERRY!!" I cry and yank them behind a brick wall just as a bullet flies toward us. Explosions sound throughout the basement and the bloodcurdling screeches of the humans echo throughout the basement. Just then, Jeremiah crawls to us, his face smudged with dust, and pants, "Dracula is on the roof! You must go, Renesmee, or else he will destroy the entire building!" And just like that, it clicks.

Dracula is Edward. He sensed us coming…

"_Max!!_" I holler. "_I have to get to the roof! You and Kerry and Reed are coming with me!! Come on!!_" Max rolls away from an explosion of bricks and sprints to me. Kerry follows.

"_Hurry, Reed!_" I shout, as he runs toward us.

"_I can't leave Jeremiah and Betsy!_" Reed says, breathing hard.

"_You have to!_" I yell. "_You just have to!_"

Out of the blue, an unseen newborn places a bomb on a furnace and scrambles away snickering. No one notices, not even me, for I am scanning the room to see if Rosalie is still there. But Max does.

"_He planted a bomb!! Everybody run!!!"_ he cries, and the four of us leap to the elevator just as fire blasts throughout the room and concrete blocks fly everywhere. The elevator doors shut as Max jams his finger onto the 'roof' button. "Hurry up, stupid!" he shouts at it.

"Max!" I say. "Yelling at it won't get us anywhere!"

Then the lights flicker out and the elevator stops. "Oh _great_," Kerry says, folding her arms.

"Lemme take care of it," Max says, climbing on top of the ceiling and ripping through the metal with his superhuman strength. He does not even bother to use the chainsaw.

"Everyone climb through the hole," I instruct, helping Kerry and Reed up and then boosting them up onto the elevator cable. I climb after them, gripping onto the greasy steel with all my might. I ascend up the cable as fast as I can, and finally we come to an air vent that leads to the roof. Reed saws the grate off and we crawl through it, finally reaching the space that empties out onto the roof.

The icy rain is coming down in sheets now. Lightning illumines the night sky and thunders cracks throughout the city.

"There," I gasp, pointing to the tall peak of the building. "Edward's up there."

"I'm afraid of heights," Kerry mutters awfully, but I wrench her along with me to the ladder.

"Max, you go first. Then me, Kerry, and Reed," I order. Max nods and grasps the rings of the ladder, and so the climbing all begins again.

I can't see anything, not even Max climbing right in front of me. The rain is such a torrential downpour that I cannot bring myself to move up the fire escape ladder at a faster pace. Reed and Kerry are gripping onto the ladder close behind, the water washing into our eyes as we will ourselves to look up to the very top of the skyscraper. My skins are soaked and so are my clothes, looking like I just jumped out of a freezing shower. I climb for my life, for my forgotten past, for everything that I and never even known about before I became Renesmee again. I dread the moment when I stand atop the building with my comrades at my sides, staring my father right in the eyes. I realize that I am about to kill Edward, the man who helped give me life, the man who loved me so much, the man who did everything to protect Bella and me…he is my father figure, but I can't do anything anymore. I have tried to shape my mind around the idea that we cannot defeat the government. This is the only way—killing Edward. My heavy gun is strapped to my back, weighing me down, along with the sheets of New York rain plunging from the black sky. I am crying, but my tears are invisible because of the buckets of water pouring down my face. I can hardly breathe, because the amount of rain is becoming insane. I feel as if I am submerged in twelve feet of water, my ears clogging with the rain. The whir of sirens blare stories beneath us, and I shut my eyes as I leap over the edge of the building and onto a small ledge. And there, in front of me is someone I thought I'd never see again…Edward.

Max stands beside me, trembling from the cold—and fear. He is a vampire, but Edward is more powerful. Yet now, my father is more vulnerable. He can be killed like humans can because the government turned him into a simple-minded weapon. The venom is still present in their bodies, but immortality is not included. That is why Rose escaped the explosion quickly. One single mishap and they will die. But I have to…I _have_ to.

He roars at the sight of us, his velvet voice so cruel and thick with venom that I cower in fear at him. "WHY ARE YOU PRESENT?!" he demands.

Kerry screams and tries to run, but Edward did some strange movement with his hand and froze Kerry in some purple ice shell. "NO!!!!!!!!!" I cry desperately and race toward my cousin. "Kerry, Kerry, can you hear me?!" I shout, pounding on the encasement. Anger burns inside of me. Edward would never do this to Kerry. Never.

Suddenly, I feel the rage forming inside of me like a monster. No one messes with my family. No one makes them lethal weapons and no one dares to try to get past us either. I let out an earsplitting howl and leap to Max's side. Where is Reed? I look over the side of the building, and Reed is injured, his leg snapped in two, ambulance surgeons carrying him away on a stretcher. I turn to face Edward, fury growing inside. This was the government's fault. I growl and aim my gun at a cop car in the street, sending in ramming into a fire hydrant, watching the water explode upward and meet the drops of unforgiving rain. I find myself turning into such a teen rebel that juvy won't even be able to hold me.

I dodge Edward's shots of purple ice, running and diving along the edge of the skyscraper. Finally I stay crouched behind a gargoyle. Max is there too. "I'm sorry I dragged you into this," I tell him. "You have been an amazing friend and I just wanna let you know that no matter what happens tonight, you and I will always stick together." His blue eyes sparkle like a thousand gems, even through the monsoon in the night. Just at that very second, Edward launches another stream of purple ice toward us. I roll out of the way, crossing the puddle-streaked roof of the skyscraper. I notice that Max is no longer beside me, and look near the chimney. There he is, frozen in the ice.

I cannot be angry any longer, because my heart hurt too much. Tears swell through my eyes and stream down my ivory cheeks. "Please, Edward!" I beg, as he towers over me immensely, his black cape blowing in the strong wind and rain. "Find the will! Find the will! I am your daughter, Renesmee! Do not hurt me! I am here to help you escape this!"

His black eyes pierced through me like daggers. He used to be a good vampire, and now was a deadly weapon. What was his soft side? Then, I knew.

"Bella!" I shout. "Bella, my mother! Your wife! Your _love until the end of forever!!!!_" My voice is hoarse, and I find myself whispering. For a second, I think I see Edward's expression soften, but it is just sorrow.

"She is gone, Renesmee. She is no longer my duty." His eyes are like ebony fire.

"No!" I say. "She still loves you! She loves _us_! Believe me, please!!"

"I cannot. You are a rebel. I am designed to _kill_ rebels."

"Daddy," I sob. "How could you say that?"

He doesn't respond. He continues to glare at me with a menacing stare. _Shoot him, shoot him!_ my mind urges me. _He doesn't care for you or Bella anymore! Shoot him!_ I hold my gun in my hand, examining it, wondering what I should do. My white hands are scraped and torn, revealing the crimson red blood hiding underneath the skin. I don't realize it, but I am silently crying. Then, I make one huge mistake.

"I'm sorry, Edward," I murmur, then take my gun and pull back the trigger, raising it up to my father…

"You shall be SILENCED!" he bellows, and gathers an incredible force in his hands. A striking light streams out from behind his fingers, and his eyes glow with a golden light that make me remember him before he was evil. Suddenly, everything so quickly, I cannot fully comprehend what happened. A lightning bolt about twelve feet is fired at my heart. I hear the crack of the gunshot and am being pulled over the edge of the giant edifice by an indescribable force. I land in the awning of the building, dazed and petrified. Another smaller body is lying beside me, so cold and wet. Someone is lying on top of me, and I yearn to be free at this very moment. But instead, as I open my milk chocolate eyes, I find myself staring into the miraculous sapphire irises of my rescuer.

Then, I woke up.


	4. April 23, 2009

April 23, 2009~

It is the day after Edward attacked us on the Chrysler Building. Max, Kerry, and I are lumbering back home to Randale, New Jersey. I know that I am about to be punished so bad, but I don't care anymore. My own father tried to kill me last night.

Reed is in the hospital, but it is unlikely he will survive. We do not know what happened to the rest of the militia, but I am guessing that the survivors are in prison. I wonder about Betsy and if she is alive. Jeremiah is dead. When he crawled to me and told me to go onto the roof and stop 'Dracula', he was dying. I feel awful; lives were given to try and help me and Kerry.

It is twilight in Randale; sometime in mid-October, referring to an actual date, though. The stars are coming out gradually amidst the blue and purple sky. We are trudging through Greenwood Park, and I solemnly look up at trees above us. Then, a bright ribbon of light sweeps smoothly through the atmosphere: a shooting star.

I hold my breath and make a wish: _Please let Edward go back to normal. And let Bella be safe…as well as the rest of the family too._ It doesn't sound good enough, so I add on with more detail: _Edward was a good man before he became a true monster. He loves me and Bella, and I know the love is deep down there somewhere inside him. I'm sorry, God, for any sins I've ever committed because now I need your help. Help me to find the good in my father and help me to be brave in the future, because I know I'll need courage. I want my family to be together again. I need them to patch up the hole in my heart._

And then, I watch the comet fade into the distance.

We walk to my street in silence, our old sports pads still hanging loosely from our body. Max stares at the ground and Kerry walks like a mindless zombie.

"Thank you again, Max, for staying with us," I say. "Kerry and I would be dead without you."

"Yeah," Kerry adds. "You saved us from Edward. How did you break free from the purple ice?"

Max shrugs, and if he were human I know he would be blushing. "I busted out because I couldn't watch you two be finished off by your own family." He sighs. "I found the will to break free."

"Well thank you so much, Max," I reply. "You saved our lives."

"He could've probably killed me," he continues. "I was very weak, and you know about that whole concept with our powers…"

"Yes."

Just as we turn the corner onto my street, I freeze. Two familiar figures are standing there, waiting for someone: me.

Max and Kerry see them, too. They stop with me and just stare at the two who are standing by the Brenners' pine tree.

Alice and Emmett!

I race forward at an incredible speed with my allies at my heels.

"Alice! Emmett!" I shout.

"Dad!" Kerry screams. Emmett opens his arms and crushes us in a giant hug. I wrap my arms around my uncle and bury my face in his sweet-smelling shoulder. "You're alive," Kerry cries.

"Of course," he says beaming. His dimples melt my heart.

I turn to look at my aunt Alice, but I regret it. Her eyes have large dark circles under them and her spiky black hair is gnarled and knotted. Her lip is swollen and her smooth skin is ripped and scarred. A jagged white scar slices across her jawbone down to her chest. She looks so small and weathered compared to her usual self.

"A-Alice…what happened to you?" I stammer. I fall back into Max, who catches me a little unsteadily.

She opens her fragile lips to tell me but bursts into dry, hiccupping sobs. "They…they…they destroyed Edward, Rose, and…and…"

"Who?" Kerry shouts impatiently.

"JASPER!!" Alice breaks down, but Emmett catches her.

"Oh…no."

"Edward is the most powerful," Emmett says darkly. "He is practically unstoppable. The rest including us escaped, except for those three. They were turned into—"

"WEAPONS!!" Alice cries. "Filthy, no-good, violent, heartless weapons for the government! They're evil! PURE EVIL! And they took my husband away from me!" Then Alice does something I do not expect at all. She lets out a bloodcurdling scream and sinks to the pavement. Max, Kerry, Emmett, and I cover our ears at the deafening noise.

"Alice, calm down!" Emmett orders, kneeling to help her. Kerry, Max, and I kneel beside her as well.

"We're hopeless, _hopeless_," Alice whines. She runs her white marble fingers through her hair. "Nessie, they took your dad; and Violet, they took your mother!"

"I wish they hadn't," Kerry says quietly. "I need my mom." Emmett puts his arm around his daughter. It is the first time Kerry has any real affection towards Rosalie.

"I need my dad," I say sadly. "I really do. I mean, Piper and I saw him in the lab, and he scared the living daylights outta me! And just last night, we had an encounter with Edward on top of the Chrysler Building. Yeah, not so pleasant."

"Oh," Emmett breathes.

Max sighs. "I just hope this isn't going to be hard."

Kerry turns around to glare at him.

"What? My adoptive parents have been dead for eight years."

"Eight years?" Kerry says blankly. "I thought you were the newest member of the Underworld Coven?"

"I am. I was visiting my parents in the World Trade Center because it was my dad's birthday on September 11th. I brought him a piece of pumpkin pie from his favorite bakery in Manhattan, and then the planes hit. I was found dying among the rubble and steel, and Sonic and Harvey changed me. I don't know why they were there, but they were."

"Oooh," I say, suddenly feeling different about Max. I mean, when you realize for the first time that you're sitting with a teenager who basically died in the Twin Towers accident, you get different thoughts about him. Kerry moves a little further away from Max.

"Hey, I don't bite," Max replies.

"Uh, yeah ya do," Kerry corrects him.

"Oh…well I don't mean it like that."

"Of course not."

Max shoves her a little, but Emmett growls at him. Kerry smiles when her dad turns away.

"So, what do we do now?" I ask. "It looks like the Brenner residence is vacant once again."

"They went to Florida again," Emmett answers.

"They never used to go with me!" I scowl.

Emmett chuckles but immediately gets back to helping Alice. An ominous look is glazed over her honey-gold eyes, and she stares into the space as if in a daze.

"Wait, Emmett," I say. "She's having a vision. Leave her."

For about two more minutes, Alice remains still, and then she snaps out of it and sits up. "You must go to the deporting station," Alice says, a panicked tone taking over her bell-chime voice. "Edward, Rose, and Jasper are going to attack Randale because they know you're here. Edward wants to kill you personally."

I gulp and my hands get clammy. "Where's the deporting station?"

"It is hidden in the basement of a convenience store in downtown Eastwood. You must go now while Emmett and I warn the mayor. The station was used years ago for the Underground Railroad and now it must be used again. They have created an army of newborn vampires, as Victoria did years ago, in a siege against the city."

Kerry looks frightened, as does Max. "Deportation? Where will it take us?"

"Somewhere far away from here," Alice says. "But you must go—now!"

"But…what about you?" I stammer.

"We will fight," she replies. "We will try to hold them off for as long as we can."

I stare deep into her eyes and shake away my tears.

"Please," Alice begs. "I cannot see you and Violet getting hurt."

"Okay," I barely manage to whisper.

Alice hugs me and Emmett hugs Kerry.

"Be safe," Alice murmurs in my ear and she pecks me on the cheek one last time.

And as the three of us jog back up the street, I turn to look back. Alice is standing beside Emmett, her hands folded formally. She looks like a little girl compared to her brother.

_Be safe_, I repeat in my head.

_I'll try,_ I answer to the soft imaginary voice.

Then, I woke up.


	5. April 27, 2009

April 27, 2009~

Eastwood is crowded with weekend shoppers from the surrounding towns. The three of us push through the packed roadsides and sidewalks and avoid the cars sluggishly moving through the streets. I fight back the emotions that I wish I could display to my friends. I try my hardest not to think of Edward or Alice or Emmett or Rose…or Bella. If I do, I will upset myself even more.

"What convenience store are we looking for, _exactly_?" Kerry asks, coming up behind me. It begins to rain and we take cover under a store awning.

"I don't know," I say. "It has to be an old one because of the whole Underground Railroad factor."

Max nods. "What about that drug store on the corner over there?"

Kerry and I turn to see it. It has an old wooden sign with the brown paint peeling. On top of that, it's faded and has ancient-looking apartments above it.

"That looks like the place, if anything," I tell them. "C'mon." We dash across the street and into the store.

A bell chimes as Max opens the door. Inside, it smells musty and old. There is a check-out desk by the display window, and then aisles of small convenience store goods. The old man at the desk is asleep, snoring loudly. He has wispy gray hairs on his head, but he is mostly bald and he is wearing a white apron over his clothes. The ceiling is so low, that it makes me feel uncomfortable.

"Um, sir," I whisper as we approach the desk.

He does not respond.

"Excuse me, sir," I say a little louder.

"Hey, _ce qui est vous l'action*_? Can you not see he is sleeping?" a girl about eighteen says in a thick French accent. She emerges from the back room. She has a smooth face and golden brown hair loosely braided as it hangs to her side. Her eyes are a light coffee brown.

Kerry goes bug-eyed; I can practically read her mind—_I don't understand French!_

"Ma'am, do you work here?" Max asks, which was a stupid question.

"_Oui, monsieur_," she replies. "He is _mon grand-père. _Are you seeking some aide?"

"Yeah, but we need you to take us to the deportation room."

The girl's eyes widen. "No, _je ne comprends pas_," she stammers and begins to fix some of the items on the shelves.

"_Nous avons besoin de votre aide. Si nous ne le recevons pas, nous mourons_," Max tells her. I didn't know he's fluent in French! Apparently Kerry doesn't either. She stands there, her jaw dropping.

The girl sighs with defeat. "_Bien. Je vous y prendrai_," she finally agrees.

Kerry and I exchange glances.

"Come," she beckons. "Follow down the stairs." She leads us into the back room and down a long flight of stairs and through a door. There is a dark mysterious corridor lying ahead of us.

"_Cette région du bâtiment est vieille. Soyez très prudents et ne devenez pas perdus_," the girl tells Max, who then turns to us and says, "Stay behind us and don't screw this up."

The girl giggles and rolls her eyes, bringing us deeper into the secret chamber. She shines her flashlight on all parts of the tunnel and maneuvers us through stairwells and forks in the path. Max talks to her in French, and she blushes a lot, but Kerry and I remain silent. Finally, we come to a glass wall blocking our path among the dirt walls and ceilings.

"We go through here," she instructs and pushes open a door into a small place with lava lamps and bean bag chairs everywhere. The rugs are fuzzy and soft…and welcoming.

"Sit anywhere," the girl says, clicking her flashlight off. "Next party will leave in—" She checks her wristwatch. "—six hours."

She walks behind a door and calls out "Alsace!"

"_Que?_" a gruffer female voice calls out.

"_Nous avons plus de déportés..._" The girl continues to talk to someone else in the other room as we sit down on a bean bag chair. A few other children are in the room, scared and shaken, and I wonder why they are here. I choose not to ask.

"So…now what?" Kerry questions. "We have six hours until we lift off from Eastwood and lure Edward away. What's the plan after that?"

"Well…" Max continues to come up with plots that will help us, or at least he hopes that will be the case. I drift off into another world and just think about life before it was difficult.

Suddenly and girl emerges from the room with the other golden-brown haired girl. This girl, who I believe is named Alsace, has spiky black hair that is dyed purple and blue in some spots. Her skin is so pale it is almost blue, and she wears dark eye makeup and black lipstick. Her clothes are Gothic and she wears huge black boots. The choker around her neck has spikes on it.

Kerry takes a step back.

"I heard we have new deportees," Alsace announces matter-of-factly. Her French accent isn't as thick and I have a feeling she can speak English better than her friend. "Step forward."

A line has formed, and we are in it. Only a few children in ragged clothing step back. Again, I wonder about them: how long have they been here?

I peek down the line at the other new deportees. _Carrie and Stacy from school_? What the heck are they doing down here??

"We leave at nine o'clock _sharp_," she spits. "Any late arrivals wait until tomorrow."  
A little boy with dirt smeared across his tan face whispers, "Where are we being—?"

"_No questions_!!" Alsace snaps. "We take you where we take you and that is it. Now line up according to gender in two separate lines. We will organize your travel groups."

I look at Max frantically. We could be split up! But he just grins and salutes to me, as if nothing is wrong. Just then, the nicer girl comes forward and whispers something to Alsace. Then, Alsace nods and points to Kerry, Max, and me. "You three, you travel together."

I stare at Max in awe, but he doesn't see me. I'm just glad he stayed with us; without him, Kerry and I would've been split for sure.

"Lorraine will take you in three hours," Alsace says. "Grandfather and I will take the other two groups in six hours." With that, she walks away. Wait, Alsace-Lorraine**? (I knew i studied for that social studies test too hard--it's appearing in my dreams!)

"_Merci, madame_," Max tells her.

Lorraine smiles. "It will be my pleasure, _monsieur_," she says to him. Kerry shoves me a little, then raises her eyebrows. "Love is in the air," she whispers.

I stifle a laugh.

Let's just hope everything works out okay. So far, so good.

Then, I woke up.

***French Translations:  
**_Ce qui est vous l'action?: _What are you doing?  
_Oui, monsieur: _Yes, sir  
_mon grand-père: _my grandfather  
_je ne comprends pas: _I do not understand  
_Nous avons besoin de votre aide. Si nous ne le recevons pas, nous mourons: _We need your help. If we do not get it, we die  
_Bien. Je vous y prendrai: _Fine. I shall take you there  
_Cette région du bâtiment est vieille. Soyez très prudents et ne devenez pas perdus:_ This region of the building is old. Be very careful and do not become lost.  
_Que?: _What?  
_Nous avons plus de déportés: _We have more deportees  
_Merci, madame: _Thank you, madam

****Alsace-Lorraine **is a region in Northeastern France. It was one of the things Germany had to give back to France in World War I.


	6. April 28, 2009

April 28, 2009~

The deportation room is white and gloomy, unlike the waiting room underneath the convenience store. Lorraine waits with Kerry, Max, and me with her flashlight but says nothing at all. I lean my head against the white wall, but suddenly my phone vibrates. I slip it open, but it is from an unfamiliar number. It says:

_We know where you are, Renesmee. If you want to keep your little friends safe, come to Greenwood field within twenty minutes of receiving this message._

I gasp and slide my phone shut. There is only one person this could be: Edward.

"I have to use the lavatories," I barely manage to whisper to Lorraine. "I'll be right back."

"Hurry, _madame!_" she calls after me as I race through the door. Alsace isn't in the waiting room, so I run into the back room and find her sitting there lazily.

"What do you want?" she scoffs.

"Take me up," I say. "It's an emergency."

"You leave in forty-five minutes," she growls. "You—"

"I don't care!" I practically shout. "My friends' lives are at stake. So take me up to the store _now!_"

Alsace stares at me, astonished. "Okay, okay, if you insist," she mumbles and leads me out the glass door and into the dark tunnels.

When we reach the store again, I grab a piece of paper from the shelves and scrawl down a note to Max: _You've been a great friend, but now I have to end this once and for all to save you and Violet. Edward threatened to hurt you guys if I didn't meeet up with him. I'm sorry I had to say goodbye like this. -Nessie_

"Alsace," I say, panting. "Take this and give it to Max." I shove the crumpled piece of paper into Alsac'e pale hands.

"I will," she says gravely. Then I thank Alsace and burst out into the cold, open streets of Eastwood. I've never felt so scared and alone in all my life. But I must do this for Max and Kerry.

Part II:

The air is unbelievably humid and sticky on this eerie Sunday twilight. All day: on and off rain. In the deportation room, Max and I had heard thunder crashing outside of the large white room. Now with the Underworld coven gone, it is only me, Kerry, and Max against Edward, Rosalie, Jasper, and the rest of their evil minions. Would we make it? We weren't sure.

The sun has already faded behind the trees of the familiar forest that once seemed friendly to me, only so long ago. I shiver as cars speed by me on the avenue and I approach Greenwood Field. The softball diamond remains untouched, but the rest of the field has a steady, impenetrable haze settling above the ground and dissolving into the treetops. I know that I am making possibly the worst mistake of my young life as I step out onto the wet grass. What is awaiting me? What will Max think of my note that I left him? Will he comprehend it the way I need him to? Worse of all, will I live or die tonight?

There are no more cars on Randale Ave., and I begin to regret my decision of following the mystery note to the abandoned Greenwood Field. Suddenly, the crickets cease to chirp, as do the birds lingering in the woodland trees, and I feel alone. It is a warm climate, but I feel frozen. Then, I hear the noise that nearly kills me.

_Pssh, pssh, psssshhhhhh, _something whispers. I feel a slight breeze behind me and a rustle in the underbrush near the swampy river. Standing alone in the middle of the foggy field, I hear the spine-chilling whisper once again: _pssh, pssh, psssshhhhhh_…

"Hello?" I call out into the emptiness. "Who's out there? I can hear you whispering."

_Pssh, pssh, pssh_…

I start to sweat. Who was that kid with the hockey mask that drowned at a New Jersey camp? We used to pretend he came out of the closet in our basement and attack us…Jack, was it?

_Pssh, pssh, psssshhhhhh_…

He, or "it", was nearing; closing in on its prey: me.

"I know you're out there, James!" I holler into the mist. There is quiet for a second, and then…

Everything happens all at once. Something shoots into my back, too heavy to be a throw-able weapon. A person? Maybe…They slam, rock-hard, into my back and send me flying into the mud and grass. I struggle to get up, but reach my feet. A man in tattered clothing and a cracked hockey mask stands in front of me with a machete sheath on his waist. He goes to swing at me, but I leap up into a tree and jump lithely to the adjacent branch when he climbs up after me and slashes at the limb, knocking it off the trunk. The man is about to get me, but I quickly grab the branch above me and pull myself up onto it with all my strength. Then, I feel him snatch my ankle and wrench me down. "HELP!!" I holler desperately, but I crash land onto the ground in a twisted heap. My wrists snap back and my legs crack sickeningly. I scream in pain and feel my consciousness slowly drifting. My ears notice the soft sound of a machete being pulled from its sheath. I scream as it digs into my back and carves one straight gash through my skin. I cannot breathe. I cannot feel anything. The machete rips through wind, but abruptly pauses at the faint noise of someone clapping. It stops right next to my left ear.

"Well done, Jason, well done," a smooth voice rewards my attacker. The man steps off of my back and walks away. _Jason_. That was it! The guy who wore a hockey mask to cover his deformed face that lies beneath it.

He is a serial killer, though, so I'm not making any better progress than before.

"Well, well, look what we have here," a hypnotizing female voice coos. "A victim…or just the girl we were looking for." Oh no: Rosalie.

"Hello, little one," she says, leaning into my ear. Her cool breath tickles my cheeks. "You did exactly as you were told, and we're _very_ glad that you decided to obey. Otherwise, you and your little friends would pay the most unfortunate price."

Is she talking about Kerry and Max?

"Edward!" Rosalie calls out, and I hear footsteps coming closer and closer to us. _Edward_. Soon enough, the man I dread most is standing over me. There is a knife in his hand. He pulls it back and launches it down, until I scream, "DADDY, _NO_!!!"

It is as if an electric shock wave rides through him, because he stops in a rigid posture. "Renesmee," he murmurs, his velvet voice echoing in my head. I remember the first time he ever called me that. It was so, so long ago. Almost an eternity in the past, Kerry and I had been alone; never knowing what was to come in the future. Never knowing that this would happen…

"Father," I croak feebly. "Father…"

"Do not speak to him that way, you disobedient child!" Rosalie hisses, sending sparks of venom stinging in my core. I feel helpless. It is three powerful killing machines against one girl who is _way_ in over her head.

I suddenly know inside my heart that honestly, there is no possible way that I can make it through the night alive to see the light of tomorrow.

"Father," I try again. What am I doing? What is willing me to say this?

_Listen to Rose,_ I tell myself, _listen to Rose!_

"Father," I moan. "Forgive me. It's my fault that you are a mindless robot. Please, forgive me, your daughter."

_Shut up!!!! _I shout inside my head.

"You are too weak to serve with us!" Rose spits.

"Please…," I manage. "I know the good is in you somewhere."

"Renesmee," Edward repeats, a hint of confusion in his beautiful voice.

"Yes," I say. "I am Renesmee, you are Edward, and mother is Bella."

"Renesmee, Edward, and Bella," he repeats.

"Rosalie," I groan and point to the stunning blonde woman beside Edward. "Rosalie and Emmett and Alice and Jasper and Carlisle and Esme."

There is a long silence as we all reminisce. I let my tears flow unstoppably while thinking of Alice and Emmett and what they had told us before they parted with us. I am so afraid of the man that I thought I could trust.

"Renesmee," Edward says for a fourth time. "I-I…am…sorry."

I shut my eyes and take a deep breath, which cuts into my rib cage and back with such pain that I am afraid to breathe again. "Edward…"

He kneels down to me, suddenly placing a marble hand on my shoulder. I turn ever so carefully to look into his golden topaz eyes. There they are, beautiful as ever.

"I-I-I'm so sorry, Renesmee," he whispers. His hand shakes uneasily as he strokes my bronze hair softly. "What…have I done?"

"We've hurt her," Rosalie says, her voice returning to normal. It is then that I notice the reddened tint disappearing from their topaz eyes. "Bad."

"Oh, no…," Edward cries. "Renesmee—Nessie…I'm such a monster!" He turns to look down at me. My milk chocolate eyes can barely stay open. Everything aches terribly as I gulp down the tears that want to continue pouring out.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!!!!!" Edward screams. He jumps up and runs his fingers through his red-brown hair in distress. "What have I done?!!" He reaches down toward me, but fear overpowers me. _He's an intelligent robot_, my mind coaxes. _He's just saying this to get closer to you! He will kill you!!_

I stumble and fall backward into the mud, my busted ankle smarting greatly. "G-get away from me," I order. "Stay…away…"  
"We won't hurt you," Rosalie explains. Her eyes are full of pain. She is upset that she and her family were used as weapons against us.

I back up further, leaning over the mucky riverbank. Edward reaches to me for a second time, but I shake with horror and scramble away. His lower lip is trembling. I don't know if it is with anger or sadness. Blood leaks onto the bank uncontrollably at my feeble attempt to escape from my father who had just tried to stab me to death. "Don't com near me," I warn, my voice quavering. "D-d-don't come near me…"

"Renesmee," Edward breathes, "you must forgive me…"  
"N-n-n-nooo," I croak, just as I black out.

Part III:

"_Someone get this girl a doctor!!"_

"_What is wrong, sir?"_

"_She's been stabbed and her legs are broken…"_

"_By whom, sir?"_

"_I…I'm not sure…I need to get her a doctor. She is dying."_

"_Edward?" _A new voice.

"_Carlisle…help her…Renesmee…she is hopeless…"_

"_We can…..little time….casts…..may be dead already……"_

"_Nooo…..pulse…..dhfbskjbgaskjbg……"_

"_Infdlsks…….sfhsidfjsdkjf….."_

I cannot understand Carlisle and Edward any longer because I see a light within the dark tunnel where I lie.

Part IV:

Heaven? Am I in…heaven? No. My back still throbs terribly. I am in a bed, lying there serenely. Edward is in the corner, his bronze hair returned, his skin back to the normal white, and his eyes a beautiful topaz. His lip is trembling.

"Renesmee…I'm so, so, so, so, sorry."

I sniffle, but a sharp pain in my ribs makes me wish I hadn't. "Where am I? How did I get here?"

"Hackensack Hospital…I ran you here, love."

"Where's…where's Mom?"

Edward's golden eyes don't leave mine. "She is in Forks. She escaped with Esme, Carlisle, Alice and Emmett."

"Yes…we…we saw A-Alice and Emmett…they warned us of you and Rose and Jasper."

"I'm so, so sorry, love," Edward says again.

"You st-st-stabbed me," I reply miserably.

"That was Jason."

"J-J-Jason was on y-y-your side."

"I was evil then. The government used me as a weapon…you tried to save us with the Underworld coven."

Abruptly, I remember Max and Kerry for the first time since Greenwood Field. "The Underworld coven…my friends."

"Yes, Renesmee, they are good vampires. They are kind and intelligent. Especially the young one."

_Piper_. "Yeah…why did they use you as a weapon?"

"I don't know, Nessie. They are terrible people for doing such a crime."

"You scared me, when I faced you on the rooftop in New York City. You scared me so…so much."

"I'm so, so, so, sorry. You must forgive me."

"I-I-I do, Daddy."

Edward leans forward and brushes the loose strands of hair from my clammy face. His cold hand is like an ice pack for my bruises and a healing salve for my damaged heart.

Then, I woke up.


	7. June 19, 2009

June 19, 2009~

I wake up to hear two familiar people shouting at each other, among the droning beeps of the hospital machines that are monitoring me. I turn my head to see moonlight streaming in through the windows in the room. It is then that I remember everything. I can still feel the cold blade of the machete digging into my back, but I force myself to think about better things.

That is very hard when the people began shouting a long line of profanities at each other.

"Stupid jackass!"

"Dumb bastard!"

"Lazy bitch!"

"Damn fag!"

They hurl awful words at each other nonstop; as if the throbbing in my head isn't bad enough already! It just gets a whole lot worse.

A new softer voice interrupts them; a familiar reassuring voice. "Excuse me, Violet and Max, but you must keep quiet and discuss your issue without crude language." There is some shuffling of feet, and then I quickly shut my eyes when I realize that they are entering my room. Through the tiny slits between my eyelids I leave open, I see Carlisle escort Kerry and Max into the room and onto the cushioned visitors' bench in the corner. Kerry has an extremely pissed-off expression on her face; her nose is wrinkled and her mouth twisted. Her arms are folded defiantly across her chest.

Max, sitting beside her, just stares into the nothingness. I know he is thinking about something, probably what he will say to Kerry next, because there is a deep crease in his forehead. I pray they do not bicker anymore.

"You let her get away in the first place," Max mutters.

"I did?! It's _your_ fault!" Kerry retorts angrily. Apparently my prayers haven't been answered.

"What did you want me to do? Follow her to the bathroom??"

"Well obviously she didn't _go_ to the bathroom!" I hear a piece of paper crumpling against stone and I see Max staring down at the scrawled note. A wave of sorrow washes over me.

Kerry sniffles. "Do you think Nessie'll be okay, Max?"

There is a long pause and I feel a cool, marble hand on my forehead. "I don't know, Violet. Probably not."

Then, I hear a few broken sobs. "She can't die. We've been through too much together," Kerry whispers.

"Sometimes we have to let go of the ones we love," Max replies. "I had to do that, years ago on September 11, 2001." It falls silent and someone sits on the other side of my bed, by the window. It is Kerry; she sighs and touches my broken left leg carefully.

"I'm not ready for that," she murmurs. "Neither is she." I think it was meant for Max not to hear it, but the sullen expression on his face tells me that he did. Just then, someone else walks into the room. It is Rose, her eyes full of unmistakable remorse. She leans in and brushes a loose curl from my ivory face, whispering, "I'm so sorry. I deserve to die more than you do."

Her words break my heart to listen to. Aunt Rose is a good person, and I know it from the times I used to spend with her. She cradles Kerry in her arms and hums a lullaby soothingly in her ear. What I would do to see my mother…

Then, I woke up.


	8. June 20, 2009

June 20, 2009~

_Life goes on for the people who live through misery and depression, sadness and pain, loss and injury. Time passes and heals the wounds that develop through these difficult eras: day by day, hour by hour, and minute by minute. Sometimes, you need to put the awful memories in a secret box, lock it, and throw the key away. They'll never come back to get you. They'll never come back to haunt you. They'll never come back to hurt you._

_I learned to love and to hate, to fight and to surrender; most important, I learned that believing is the most important key. It leads to courage and eventually spits us out on a huge cliff overlooking the deathly pits of fear. Courage gave me the strength to leap headfirst into fear's deepest crevice…and still come out alive. _

The hospital is oh so quiet at about two in the morning. The lights in the hallway are switched off, and all that is left is an eerie blue glow streaming in from the glass window in the door. I keep my head propped up on a pillow so that the wires and tubes connected don't choke me. I blink a few times and look around. Kerry is asleep in the corner on the blue leather cushioned bench, breathing steadily, but Max is nowhere in sight. I wonder where he could possibly be, and then I remember that he doesn't have to worry about protecting us anymore. I wish I could have said goodbye to Max…

Wait. Visitor hours do _not_ extend till two a.m. Kerry must've begged or _something_. At this rate, I know she would do anything to just stay here with me.

I hear a few voices murmuring outside of my door. I crane my neck—without issuing too much pain—to see the figure of a doctor with a white jacket and stethoscope slung around his neck talking to someone else behind the door. I immediately recognize him as Carlisle. I try my hardest to listen in on their conversation.

"…she only has hours left…" Oh crap—they're talking about _me_. Hours to live? But I feel fine!

The other person coughs and says miserably, "Might as well just bring out…"

Bring out what? _Bring out what?!_ They had better not dare think about putting me to sleep like some kind of dog.

"That may be the only choice we have," Carlisle whispers. He pushes open the door and in walks him and Edward. I quickly close my eyes and pretend to be sleeping. Edward places a hand over my fast-beating heart. His hand is shaking and he says very quietly, "I wish we had another way to save you."

"Daddy…," I groan and slowly open my eyes. His eyes widen when he looks into my deep chocolate brown orbs—the same color of my mother's when she was human.

"I didn't mean to hurt you," Edward mumbles.

"I know."

Carlisle wheels a bulky machine into the room and sets it beside my bed. "Good morning, Nessie," he greets warmly, but his expression is grave. I smile weakly in response as Edward takes my hand.

"This is the Dream Machine. One setting allows you to see what your life would've been like if you chose a certain path, and the other allows you to transfer yourself to that life."

My eyes bulge. "What are you gonna do?"

Carlisle switches on the plasma screen TV on the wall and says, "We're just showing you what you would be like if you hadn't come to live with us." He hooks something that looks like a blood pressure strap around my arm and presses a few buttons on the machine. It whirs loudly and Kerry jolts awake.

"What the hell is going on?!" she cries, but Edward shushes her. We all watch the TV screen as an image slowly paints itself onscreen. A bunch of pictures of Charlotte and her friends flash through; pictures I don't remember taking. One is at a birthday party—it looks like a party for me and Gabby celebrated together, because all of our friends are there with two large cookie cakes set in front of us. Tears come to my eyes as I stare at a picture of me and Christina Sollino making goofy faces. Another is of me and Michelle Garrison (Chris Grimbo's fiancée) and Lauren Rodie laughing hysterically with ice cream on our noses. Another: Carrie and I diving through the waves at the beach with Anna and Carrie's little sister Catie being wiped out. I look at the floor.

"This other setting that I will put you on brings you there, but only like a short preview. It is displayed for us through your eyes on the TV," Carlisle explains and punches in a few other buttons. I shut my eyes and suddenly, I am lined up behind another girl in my class: _Kristinia Colman. She is wearing a long white silk gown that looks like an angel costume. On top of her sandy brown hair is a graduation cap in the same shade of pearl white. "Aren't you excited?" she exclaims. "Were graduating from middle school today!!"_

"_Yeah," I find myself stammering. "But I have to read a welcoming speech." _Whoa, what???

"_You'll do fine," Kristinia assures me and the line begins moving as "Pomp and Circumstance" begins to boom from the organ. As if in a trance, I walk forward and turn down the aisle into my seat. The church is packed. There are butterflies in my stomach as I stagger through my pew and saunter to the altar to read this welcoming speech. Sure enough, as I stand up onto the podium, there it is: my graduation welcoming speech. I finish reading it and earn a generous applause from the crowd and then head back to my seat. A few of my friends clap me on the back in approval and ask if I wrote it. I just nod and make sure I don't trip on anyone's feet._

Then it all stops and I open my eyes. "Interesting," Carlisle says, brooding to himself.

"Show me another," I demand and shut my eyes again: _I look up to see the sky grey with unfriendly storm clouds. The surface beneath me is cold and wet, and I look down, noticing that I am sitting on a steel dock in the middle of a huge lake. Fog envelops the mountains in the far distance and trees sway in the breeze of the approaching storm. The dock dips and wavers in the murky lake water as fat drops of ice rain plunge from the summer sky. I turn and see Christina Sollino lying there on my back beside me in her bathing suit._

"_Isn't so nice to just sit here and be away from everyone?" she asks._

_I sigh. "Yeah."_

"_Maddie's lucky she has a lake house."_

_Oh. So this is _Maddie's_ lake house. I turn and see a bunch of kids from our school standing on a wooden dock huddled together with vivid colored towels wrapped around them. "She sure is lucky. I live for the nature," I say, closing my eyes and looking up to sky. Raindrops dot my face and stream down my rosy cheeks like tears._

_Christina turns to look at me. "I hope we're still friends in high school."_

_The rain begins to fall in sheets as sorrow washes over me. "Of course. Why wouldn't we be?"_

"_I don't know."_

"_We'll always be friends. We'll always be there with each other."_

_She smiles brilliantly. "It's you and me against the world."_

_I begin chuckling along with her, but then my face turns serious. "We attack at daybreak." Then we burst out laughing even harder just as a bolt of lightning strikes in the far distance._

My eyes snap open and Edward is paler then usual. "I don't like that one," he croaks. "It wasn't safe with the lightning."

I laugh but that one is my favorite. I wish I could see Christina. I miss her a lot.

"One more," Carlisle tells me. He pushes the buttons and then a vision reoccurs: _I am sitting in our mountain house in Pennsylvania at the kitchen table with a bunch of my cousins. We scream and shout as my uncle rolls three dice in his hand, then throws them. They all land on a single black dot. Everyone screams and whoops and hollers excitedly. I know what game we are playing: Left, Right, Center. It is a traditional game we play there and we always got so caught up in it. Suddenly, I feel as if I am part of their family again._

_I turn to look behind me at the dark kitchen, but see a mysterious figure lingering in the shadows. As my eyes adjust to the darkness, I notice his white skin, bronze hair, and smoldering golden eyes: Edward Cullen._

I scream at the top of my lungs and the hospital monitors begin to screech with exhilaration at my sudden outburst. Carlisle shuts the Dream Machine off quickly and runs to my side. Edward sits there with a pained expression on his beautiful face as he stares at me in horror.

It is then that I realize he was everywhere—in every vision I saw, he was there hiding. At graduation he was in the crowd; at Maddie's party he was beneath the dock. I realize that wherever I was, Edward would be there with me. Like Bella had told me so many months ago in the restaurant: _"You were never alone, because one of us was always watching you…"_

"Edward, I must have a word with you," Carlisle says, ushering him out the door. He shuts it, and then there is silence.

"Freaky…," Kerry mutters.

"Ya think?"

"I bet you Carlisle is gonna send us back."

"Maybe."

"Aww I don't wanna—"

"I'm not in the mood to hear it, Kerry," I snort.

Her eyebrows knit together and she glares at me stubbornly. "You're going to die soon."

"I know. I don't care."

Her expression softens. "You don't?"

I shake my head, but it hurts real bad. "I won't be in pain anymore. And I won't have a huge scar on my back. I'll have new clean skin."

A single tear drips from Kerry's right eye.

"I'll watch over you," I say, taking her hand. "I promise."

Then, I woke up.


	9. June 21, 2009

June 21, 2009~

My mind is set on continuously thinking about the visions I saw from the dream machine. They were so fascinating to see, but I don't want to go back to life as Charlotte Brenner. _This_ is the only life I want. With the Cullens.

All I can hear are the small murmurs of Edward and Carlisle in the hallway. Kerry fell asleep, her hand still grasping mine tightly. The monitors beep low and slow, which isn't a good sign for me. My heart rate is decelerating…

I try to listen into the conversation, forcing myself to believe that everything is okay. Edward's voice is tense and so is Carlisle's. I come to realize that this is probably the last day with my real family.

I sit back and let my head rest against the pillow. The room has that sterile smell of antiseptics and medicine, and I hate it. I wish that I could be home in Forks instead of here in New Jersey.

Then I hear footsteps and more familiar voices: the rest of my family! Including Bella!! They are okay! They are alive! I feel like jumping for joy.

I also hear three more voices: very, very familiar. A boy with a deep voice, a girl with a high melodic voice, and a little girl with sophisticated language. I recognize the people as Sonic, Bristol, and Piper.

"Where is Renesmee?" Piper asks gravely.

"She's in the room," Edward chokes. There is dead silence.

"You have tortured her, Edward," Sonic growls. "She is dying. There is a gash in her back so deep that she has already lost too much blood." Whoa. I forgot that Sonic read people's memories by looking into their eyes.

"I'm sorry," my father says.

"She will not live." It is Carlisle this time. A whimper escapes from Piper.

"We just came to see if she was okay," Bristol tells him.

"Would you like to see her?"

"No. Saying goodbye before was hard; it'd be harder now," Sonic says. Then they are gone.

The door opens and I see Bella standing there with Edward behind her. "My baby!" Bella cries and runs to me, but stays frozen when she sees my injuries. She collapses in a chair and sobs tearlessly into Edward's chest.

"Renesmee," Edward begins, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Life for us is going to change. If we keep you here any longer you'll die. You have to leave so we can't hurt you anymore."

"What?" I say, my voice raising a few octaves higher. "No! You can't leave me! Where am I gonna go? I can't go back to the Brenners!"  
"That's your only choice, love," he whispers. "It's what's best for you. It will be like we never existed."

"No, please!! I'll be better! _Please!!_" Salty tears begin to flow down my cheeks as I reach for him.

Carlisle walks in and hooks me back up to the Dream Machine. I try my hardest to pry the Velcro apart, but my fingers are too feeble. "NO, GRANDPA, _PLEASE!!_" I shout as my voice cracks.

"I'm sorry, Renesmee," he says and punches in the buttons.

"Dad! Mom!" I scream. "I can't leave you! Please! _Stop!!_"

Bella can't even turn to look at me. Edward looks as if he's being tortured.

"_Mom! Dad! No!! Please! I can't leave you again!_" I turn to Kerry. "_Violet! VIOLET!" _I reach my hand out to her, but Emmett holds her back. She, too, is hooked up to the whirring, buzzing machine.

"_MOM! DAD! STOP THIS MACHINE! I WON'T DIE! PLEASE!"_ I cry, the tears drenching my paper hospital gown.

"I love you, Renesmee," Edward whispers, his fingers interlocking with mine just as everything fades away.

_Love, life, meaning… over.*_

Part II:

I wake up to the vaguely familiar white ceiling of a bedroom. I roll out of the bed and walk across the wooden floor, my head spinning from sleep. The little clock on my nightstand flashes the blue numbers—7:02 a.m. It is a Friday on November 20th.

I look at myself in the mirror and cover my mouth to prevent myself from screaming. Where are my milk chocolate brown eyes that I inherited from Bella?! And my thick bronze curls from Edward?! The only things left of Renesmee Carlie Cullen are my ivory skin and my memories.

"Charlotte! Time to get up for school!" Maria calls upstairs to me.

_Oh my God_, I think to myself. _Charlotte…_

I want to panic, but I know there is nothing I can do. "Edward? Bella?" I call out into the nothingness. There is no reply.

Maria opens the door. "C'mon, Char, it's time for school."

I get ready sluggishly, taking my precious time to think everything through. I was in the hospital room begging to stay. I remember Edward's last words: _I love you, Renesmee._ My dirty golden curls are wrapped in a messy bun in the back of my head. I grab an old backpack slung over the bedpost and head to the door. A huge poster on the wall stops me from going anywhere. The first thing that catches my eye: _The Twilight Saga: New Moon...11.20.09_

I gasp in horror at the fact that the Twilight Series still exists. The date scares me even more: _November 20, 2009_. Today is that day. The figures portraying Bella, Edward, and Jacob were all wrong. Megan Fox as Bella is wearing a mini skirt that is so short; her ass is practically hanging out. Her makeup is too dark and her hair is too perfect; her skin isn't even the beautiful cream ivory it's supposed to be. Edward is played by some freak I swear I've seen on Disney Channel before. I can't remember his name, but he looks nothing at all like my stunning father. His "serious" expression is so pitiful it's actually goofy, and Jacob; forget about it. Jacob isn't even Quileute. He's depicted by another actor I've never even seen before but he looks Spanish or something. There is not even the slightest hint of Native American in him, and I find tears pooling in my eyes. _What is this? Who are these people?_ I scream in my mind. My head is swimming in circles in a pool full of sharks.

"_It will be like we never existed_," I quote aloud, remembering Edward's words to me. I turn and see every book of the Twilight Series on my bookshelf and fight back the tears that are bound to come. The Twilight Director's Notebook is slid in next to Breaking Dawn, and on the binding is a picture of the stupid-looking Edward and Megan Fox trying to look like the prostitute Bella.

"This is all wrong," I whisper, hurtling towards the ground. I stop myself from fainting just in time, but as I trudge downstairs and climb in Maria's minivan I feel dizzier than ever.

"Are you alright?" Maria asks, keeping her eyes on the road. I graze my forehead with my clammy fingers and notice that my slender fingers are trembling. "I'm fine," I mumble as we turn into the school parking lot. Ugh. How I dread this place.

I walk slowly through the hallways, my plaid skirt gently chafing my legs. My backpack seems ten tons too heavy for me and the weight of the sky is draped over my shoulders as I wait in line outside of the English room. Time and space brakes to a halt as everyone around me seems to pause. I stare into thin air and think nonstop about Edward and Bella. Where are they? What are they doing? I turn, expecting to see the gorgeous god and goddess standing there awaiting me, but instead see the other kids bustling around to get to their next class. Everything is in slow-motion as the loose strands of my hair are blown out in front of me and a boy steps in my path with a big grin on his face.

"Hey, Charlotte! You seem a little down today. How are things?" Rob asks.

"I think it'd be best if you just stayed away from me from now on," I growl venomously. The smile disappears from his face and he says, "I think you need to a hug…from me."

I grab his shirt collar and shove him into the wall. "I don't need help from anyone." Everyone is staring at me as I turn my back and stalk into the English room, taking a seat and putting my head down on the desk. The teacher assigns a paper to be completed in forty-five minutes on our current feelings and deep descriptions on how we feel. I pick my pen up and begin to write:

Today I feel as if I have been burdened with the weight of a thousand cinder blocks on my back. That is all I can say.

I hand my paper in early and walk back to my desk. In less than five minutes the teacher calls out, "Charlotte? Can I see you for a second?" I don't respond right away because I forget that is my name until some fat kid nudges me and says, "She's talkin' to you, Brenner."

"Oh. Right." I get up and lumber towards the desk, a dull expression carved into my impassive face. The teacher glares at me, adjusting her glasses. "May I ask why you wrote _this_ and _only this_ on your English paper, Miss Brenner?"

_Miss Cullen_, I want to correct but I bite my tongue. "It's how I feel today. Exactly like that."

"Do you need to see a psychologist? Because I can make that arrangement," she tells me.

I shake my head dully. "No. I'm fine. I'm just in a bit of a bad mood." I lean in closer and wink. "Probably PMS-ing."

She raises her eyebrows as I shrug and walk back to the desk.

The next class is math and it begins with a fifteen minute break. I sit at my desk alone, staring out the window, looking into the gloomy sky. _Yeah, I see the clouds too_, I tell my parents in my head. _It's not only crappy in Forks today, but in Randale too._

"Charlotte?" a familiar voice rings out. I turn and see Christina Sollino standing there, a puzzled expression on her face. Oh, how I've missed her!

"Christina!" I reply excitedly for the first time today. "How are you? How've you been?"

She cocks her head in perplexity, her brown curls bouncing with her sudden movement. "Uh, I'm fine. I saw you yesterday."

I frown. "You did?"

"Um…yeah. You were in school. Is something wrong?"

"No," I hastily lie. "So what's up?"

Christina beams. "Well a bunch of us were going to see _New Moon_ tonight in theaters and I just wanted to know if you were definitely coming! I got your tickets online already!"

"Um…er…" I hesitate. _New Moon_? I don't think I can handle it. But the pleading look in Christina's green eyes makes me sigh in defeat and nod. "Okay sure fine."

"Great! I'm so glad! I mean, you liked _Twilight_ and everything so we _have _to see _New Moon_!"

"Yeah," I say smiling weakly in response. "Can't wait." I think for a moment. "Christina?"

"Mm-hm?"

"Have you ever heard of Kristen Stewart?"

Christina's brow furrows and she shakes her head. "Nope."

"How about Rob Pattinson?"

"Uh…no."

"Taylor Lautner?"

"Nuh-uh."

I feel light-headed all of a sudden. When they said they it was going to be like they never existed, they were right. Not even the actor identities of them are real.

I suddenly realize that Carlisle made a terrible mistake when he pushed that button on the Dream Machine.

Part III:

I see Violet at lunch and immediately run to her. "Violet?" I whisper as she remains frozen in fear.

"Nessie," she says, her eyeballs glassing over. "What happened?"

"We got dumped here again, that's what."

"Can we ever go back?"

I sigh. "I don't think that's an option, Vi."

"I wanna go home. I feel really strange here. Everyone knows me, but I don't know them." Her large pleading eyes stare up at me in terror. "I miss Mom and Dad."

"You're telling me," I say grimly as I push past her to dump my lunch tray into the garbage can. I cannot eat a single bit of food—my throat burns for blood.

Part IV:

I stare at myself in my mirror as if I am about to magically transform back into my regular self. Nothing happens. I slam my brush down in frustration and curse loudly. Why does this have to happen to me?! Why couldn't I just be normal with my parents; everything would be perfect! But no, life just _has_ to be a struggle.

The honk of a car horn brings me cascading down the stairs and dashing out the door as Maria shoves money into my hand and sends me off into the Sollinos' big black Escalade. "Have fun!" she calls. I sure hope I do.

"Hey Charlotte," Christina says, hoisting her neck around the passenger seat to see me. "You excited for the movie?"

"Yeah," I feign. "So thrilled."

A few of our other friends are in the car: Carrie, Lauren, Gabby, etc. But one girl in particular catches my eye: Michelle Garrison.

She looks sadder, weaker, and depressed. _Did the Dream Machine affect her at all?_ I wonder to myself. That reminds me; I didn't see Chris Grimbo in school today. I feel as if I am missing something very important.

Mrs. Sollino pulls up in front of the Eastwood theater and lets us out. We practically trample each other in trying to get out among all the flurry of excitement, but regain our balance on the sidewalk and stroll past the long line of teenage girls out the doors; we already have our tickets. I try not to look at the drug store across the street on the corner, but manage to catch a glimpse of the display window beneath the peeling brown sign. I could swear I see Lorraine in the window, her thick golden-brown hair braided loosely.

Our crowd take our seats as the theater begins to fill up with over-excited _Twilight_ fanatics. I grumble and slouch in the red velvet seat. The movie begins, and Megan Fox appears onscreen. I slap my hands over my eyes and will myself to ignore the sounds from the movie, but remove my hand in one part. Christina's hand is grasping my wrist and Gabby is sobbing. Michelle Garrison has the same pained appearance as she had before. Her soft blue eyes fill with tears as she watches the screen. I dare to look up at it, but instead of seeing Megan Fox in an oversized sweatshirt (which by the way makes her look like she's wearing no bottoms) and the corny Disney star, I see Edward standing before a human Bella in the middle of the woods. Her milk chocolate eyes are full of misunderstanding, confusion, and hurt as my father rests his smoldering topaz orbs on her face. His tousled bronze hair is even more wild than usual, and I find myself leaning on the edge of the seat. "_I promise that this will be the last time you'll see me. I won't come back. I won't put you through anything like this again. You can go on with your life without any more interference from me. It will be as if I'd never existed**."_

_It will be like we never existed…_

My breathing comes in short, frantic pants as Edward gingerly kisses my mother on the forehead and disappears into the wilderness. I leap up and race through the aisle, earning bewildered looks from the rest of the viewers. I swing the door open and sprint through them, leaving Megan Fox standing in the middle of the forest screaming and crying and throwing a ridiculous tantrum. "Charlotte?" I hear Christina calling after me, but I wipe the flowing tears from my eyes and run outside into the cold atmosphere of late November. I punch the giant movie poster of Megan Fox and the Disney boy as hard as I possibly can.

"_That's not Edward and Bella!_" I scream to the heavens as wind whirls around me. "_Give them back to me! I need them, God, please! You can't just take my parents away from me! And you can't take them from Violet either! GIVE ME BACK THE CULLENS!!_"

People walking on the sidewalks begin to stare and stay away from me. Christina bursts through the doors of the theater with two young workers. She grabs my shoulders and tries to settle my irrepressible sobs. "Charlotte, Charlotte, it's just a movie. You _must _calm down! Edward comes back in the end! I promise! And, you know that too. You've read the book! You already knows what happens."

I sniffle and look her in the eyes. "It's not that. Edward and Bella…are my real parents."

"They're fictional, Charlotte. It's okay, it's not real."

I narrow my eyes and rip out of her clutch. "They are _too_ real. I lived with them for some of my life." I walk across the street. "I'm getting out of here, because no one wants to listen to a crazy screw up. Go enjoy that stupid Hollywood rip-off."

Christina gapes as I trip and fall face first into the road, my Converse shoelace getting caught in the sewer ledge. I bend down and try to wedge it out.

"Charlotte! What are you doing?!" she hollers, but I ignore her. My cheeks flush with chagrin as I yank and tug at the lace. Damn, it was stuck pretty well in there.

One of the workers runs out to me and grabs my arm. His large brown eyes are full of uncertainty.

"Let go of me!" I order, pushing his eager hand away with my elbow.

"No, ma'am. You have to get outta the road. Let me help," he says. His voice is young, innocent. He looks no older than sixteen.

"I got this, LET GO!" I shout, wrenching at the string harder.

"Ma'am, we will get struck by a—" We both look up inn unison to see a giant truck speeding towards us. Its headlights blind me.

"_TRAVIS!!_" the other boy yells.

"_CHARLOTTE!!_" Christina echoes.

"Oh…no," Travis says, his voice only a zombie-like drone. I hold my breath and jerk at the lace harder and harder, making zero progress.

"Get outta here, kid," I hiss to him. He doesn't respond with even a slight flinch. Beads of sweat form on my forehead as I pull with all my might at it. "_Save yourself, Travis!_" I demand, but his eyes are dazed like a blind man's.

I try to get my shoe off, but the tight shoelace is cutting off the circulation in my foot. Right away, I know death is near. So near, I can feel its rotten breath on my neck.

"God, have mercy," I murmur as my life flashes before my eyes. "I love you Bella and Ed—" There is a crack of thunder, the honk of a horn, the striking light of the truck, and then a bloodcurdling screech that will remain in my mind forever—it is none other than my own.

Everything blurs, and it is now that the pain shoots through me so bad that fire would feel nice right now; it dissolves just as fast. Then there is blackness, with only a delicate stream of light at the end of the tunnel. Today, I have met death.

**TRUCK ACCIDENT KILLS TWO  
**_A cargo truck ran over two teens that were believed to have been traumatized in Eastwood last night at around 9:00 p.m. Reports say that Charlotte Brenner, 14, was crossing the street when she got her shoelace hooked around a loose sewer screw. Travis Neilson, 16, a worker at Eastwood Theater, ran to help her but plunged into shock at the sight of the nearing vehicle. Both children were killed instantly.  
__"I didn't even see the kids," says truck driver Butch McClain. "Alls of a sudden, I heard screamin' and felt my truck go over somethin'. Sures enough, we checked the street and found [Travis and Charlotte] dead. [Travis] was broken and squished, but the girl was just cut and bloody. We's checked for a pulse, but there was none, like.  
__Two witnesses will bring this case to court for the Brenners and Neilsons in suing McClain. Christina Sollino, 14, and Colin Brownstone, 16, were the only real witnesses of this horrifying event. "It was something I hope I never see again," says Sollino of her best friend's death. "To just see it happen and know it was real was the worst part. I wish I could've been the one out there trying to help her instead of Travis. I wish the two of them could've had more time on Earth."_

Then, I woke up.

**Page Numbers from _New Moon_**_:  
_**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these phrases. They are Stephenie Meyer's from her novel New Moon.  
***p. 71 in New Moon  
**p.73 in New Moon


	10. June 22, 2009

June 22, 2009~

_My eyelids are sore with tears and my back is aching terribly. I am lying against a cinnamon-stone wall and sitting on a cobblestone street in an alleyway of an ancient city. The sound of a large crowd rings in my ears as I rub my head. _Where am I?_ I think to myself, looking around. People in long bloodred robes walk throughout the streets as I crawl to the edge of the alleyway and peek out. _The San Marcus Day Festival in Volterra_, I tell myself. What am I doing in Volterra?_

_As if on cue, a bright yellow Porsche speeds through the cobblestone streets, whipping up the wind and blowing my hair around my face. _Alice_, I immediately think. I look both ways before sprinting out of the alleyway and down the cobblestone road after the Porsche. My heart pounds in my ears as I run as fast as my legs can take me, keeping my eyes securely focused on the yellow car. It comes to a halt and a girl with wavy brown hair, ivory skin, and a panicked expression leaps out. _Bella_._

"_Bella! Bella Cullen!" I cry, racing after her as she pushes through the mass of people in red cloaks. I try again. "Bella _Swan_!!"_

_She still does not respond but I tear through the crowd harder and faster to catch up with her. She runs up a staircase and through alleyways and finally we reach the middle of Volterra. I stare up at everything in astonishment, but then notice Bella dart past me and search frantically through horde of people. I chase after her and finally grab her wrist. The massive clock tower ticks away with seconds till noon._

"_Bella, Bella, calm down," I say. Her deep brown irises are full of horror and nervousness._

"_H-How do you know who I am?" she stammers._

"_Just trust me," I tell her, my trembling fingers releasing her from my grip. "We have to find Edward!"_

"Edward_! Where is he?" Bella exclaims. She backs up into me and the world spins too fast around us. "There!" she cries, and points to an arch beneath the clock tower. She dashes away, splashing through the fountain as the clock booms twelve o'clock noon. I follow quickly and begin screaming with Bella. "No, Edward, DON'T!!" She makes one last heroic dive at her future husband and pushes him back into the shadows. My heart swells with relief until two guards pick me up and grab me by my arms and yank me away._

"_No, stop!" I holler, kicking and shouting for help. "Bella! Edward!" I turn and they are gone from the shadows._

"_Your time is up, Renesmee," a soft voice coos evilly as I look up to see Jane standing before me. Her red eyes glisten hungrily and her angelic face stuns me. "It's time to do something I've wanted ever since the day I first saw you," she growls and then everything is gone._

"AHH!" I scream and jolt awake from the terrifying sleep. I look around and see nothing but pure whiteness. No walls, no floors, no ceilings; where am I now?

Then I remember everything from the _New Moon _poster gone wrong in my room to the very second before Travis and I were struck by that car. My head throbs slightly, but I know I can endure it.

"Renesmee?"

Edward? He is here?! "Edward!" I call and get up onto my feet, but collapse again from dizziness. My head is spinning in endless circles as I hear someone approaching me.

"Renesmee Carlie Cullen, a.k.a. Charlotte Marie Brenner," a tall man in a creamy white toga snorts. "Your time is up."

I am still extremely disoriented. "Can you please tell me where I am?"

"Welcome to purgatory, kid," the toga man says, holding a clipboard and scrawling something onto it. He has curly brown hair and tan skin. "You were killed in a car accident."

"No, we were run over by a truck."

He rolls his eyes and glares at me. "Same thing. They both involve vehicles."

I wrinkle my nose. "Where is Travis?"

"He woke up a few hours ago. Landed right beside where you are now. We were going to take you too, but we decided to let you rest."

"Who are you?" I croak.

"I am Mick, the guardian of purgatory. My brother Michael is the guardian of heaven…but he gets all the credit. I mean, I should get some of the glory too! I have to deal with the little earthlings like you."

I shake my head and stare at the ground. "No no no no. This can't happen! I can't be dead. I'm fifteen! I have to get home to Forks with Violet…is she still alive?"

"Violet Eclipse Cullen, a.k.a. Kerry Beth Williams…yup, she's still alive. She is very upset over your death."

"I have to get back to Earth," I insist and get up, wobbling unsteadily.

"I don't think so, Miss Cullen," he says. "Once you're dead, you're dead. There's no going back. And what makes you think you deserve to go back? I get a ton of teens here every day. What makes you any different than any of 'em?"

I take a deep breath. "I am half-vampire, half-human. I was sent away from my family and they don't even know I'm dead. They think I'm still alive and living healthily in New Jersey. Trust me, they would kill themselves if they knew I was dead."

Mick sighs and groans. "I've never gotten vampire kids before." He looks through his clipboard and a little manila folder appears in his hand. It has my name on it in bold print. "You see, kid, the problem with vampires is that they're memories don't get erased when we do the switch. So they remember everything from the _previous_ life, and the _current _life."

"What switch?" I ask curiously.

"When we return a human back to Earth, which we only usually do with young kids, we rewind everything to the past years they were born. It's like they start over _completely_. The thing is, you get to be the same person with the same family and history, but your life goes down a different path. This new life, you wouldn't be diagnosed with that myth disease you had when you were little. But anything or anyone that's meant to be in your life, somehow clashes in with your story."  
"Like the way my parents met?"

"Sure," Mick says.

I sigh. "But will there be any Twilight Series or anything? Will Stephenie Meyer have written the books and the movie and everything?"

Mick shakes his head. "Your memory would never be transferred to her head because of the no-disease thing. Besides, you only get a shot at fame once, kid. It ain't fair for everyone if the same people keep being famous. We can have books in there that were made before you were born, but not any that were published when you were alive."

I pause. When was I born? Renesmee was born in 2006, only three years ago. Does that make sense? I just turned fifteen in September (even though to the Brenners I'm still considered fourteen)…how long was I with the Brenners? Nothing seems to make any sense, or come any clearer at all.

Mick is about to walk away when I grab his arm and demand, "You know how to get me back?"

He rolls his eyes. "Yes. But you have to prove that you're worthy enough to go back to Earth. Then we gotta do some whole switch that erases everyone's memories and we start from wherever you want to start, but it has to be somewhere in your young life."

I think about this. "Will Bella and Edward remember everything from this life? And Jacob and Violet?"

Mick bites his lip. "Because they aren't humans, they will. We can only alter human minds, but because we didn't create vampires we can't meddle with their heads."

"Will I remember?"

Mick looks down at his clipboard. "Because you're half-vampire, some things are gonna trigger you're memory and you'll see images from this life." He points to me. "And your friends Jimmy and Vera? Are they all-human?"

"Jacob and Violet," I correct. "Jacob is a…um…_shape-shifter_, or werewolf. And Violet may have some vampire genes in her."

"Jacob will have the same thing you have. It isn't until he actually sees you that he'll remember everything. Same with you. It isn't until you see your parents _together_ that you'll remember everything. I don't know about this Violet girl, though."

I shrug. "What about the ones that were imprinted on by the wolves?" Immediately, my mind flashes the sad picture of Michelle.

"Listen, kid, I don't know all that much about 'em. If they remember, they remember. I can't control that." He snatches my arm and leads me off to a big building with large columns and white marble, like a Greek temple.

"Where are we going?"

"To see the Judges. They'll determine whether or not we get to do the switch."

I silently pray they decide to let us.

Part II:

There is a huge oak-wood desk that rides in a semi-circle around the large room, each with an important-looking person at a spot. The room is packed with lines of people who look impatient and frazzled…and bemused.

"Go on, there," Mick orders, shoving me onto a line behind a small girl.

"What do I do??" I shriek.

"Just stand there and answer the Judge's questions. Don't interrupt him. Just follow his lead," Mick says, and then he runs out the door.

I tap the little girl on the shoulder. "Excuse me, do you know what you're doing?"

She shakes her head, her wide black eyes oddly familiar. "I was kidnapped by a bad man and then he pulled out a gun and shot me. I woke up in this place a few minutes ago and a nice lady brought me here."

I shudder. "I was hit by a truck." The line quickly extends longer behind me. People begin groaning impatiently.

"It kinda sucks to die," she says, giggling. "I wanna go straight to heaven, if they have enough room there for me."

"Yeah. I'm actually gonna try and convince the Judges to do a switch and let me go back to Earth."

The girl shakes her head. "I don't wanna go back. My favorite babysitter vanished almost a year ago because she went on this scary mission and now, I really miss her. Maybe she'll be up there." She points to the ceiling.

I gasp in horror as I suddenly recognize the little girl that I used to babysit as the one standing in front of me.

"What was her name?"

"Charlotte. But her real name was Renee or Emily or something close to that."

"Talia," I whisper, my voice shaking.

Her eyes bulge as looks up at me, as if seeing me for the first time.

"Talia, it's me. Renesmee. _Charlotte_."

I cannot believe Talia is dead. Of all the people I could meet up with in purgatory, it is the sweet, caring little girl who I used to babysit.

"Oh, Charlotte!" she cries as she hugs me tightly. "Was it really a truck that killed you? Or did the vampires come and eat you?"

I laugh weakly. "No, it was really the truck."

"What about Bella and Edward? And Perry?"

I gulp. "Bella and Edward have no idea that I died. _Kerry_ knows, though."

"Oh." Talia looks at her feet. "Charlotte, why don't you stay so we can be in heaven together?"

Her small words crush me like a thousand pounds of cement. "I can't. I have to go back." I kneel down to meet her eyes. "I have to keep Kerry and my family safe."

"Okay," Talia nods. Just then, the Judge on our line cranes his neck over the desk to peer down at her. "You go on that line over there with the other young ones, Miss Talia Angelina Vasquez." He points to a line across the room where a bunch of frightened-looking little kids are.

"Bye, Charlotte. Keep them safe," she murmurs as she sulks toward the other line.

"Ah, Miss Renesmee Carlie Cullen. Date of birth: September 10, 2006. Date of death: November 20, 2009." The ancient Judge pauses. "You know, I imagined you a whole lot younger than this."

"Uh yes, Your Honor." Well, what am I supposed to call him? "I am half-vampire, half-human so I age faster. I'm actually fifteen."

He smiles a warm grin that sends the sides of his mouth wrinkling gently. "My dear Renesmee, your father and mother, Edward Anthony Masen-Cullen and Isabella Marie Swan-Cullen, do not know of your sudden death." He sighs. "Very sad."

"Your Honor, that's why I need to ask you a favor."

The Judge's kind face is full of concern. "Yes, my dear?"

"I want to do a switch. Like, go back to Earth and relive from the age of…ten."

He blinks a few times and then looks down at his paperwork. "To the age of ten? Which year would that be, because of your aging problem?"

I don't like how he calls my aging a 'problem'. It makes me feel like child with a severe disability or something. "I-I'm not sure, Your Honor," I admit truthfully. Suddenly, my past life becomes completely blurry as if being swallowed into a dark hole.

"We can _try_," he says. "But we must notify your parents so that they are not confused when their entire life changes overnight." He grins. "Literally."

"Um, yes," I smile weakly as he gives a hearty laugh. "But, Your Honor, vampires' memories aren't erased."

"Yes," he says. "But they can be bewildered." He winks. "I'll send Micken to tell them of your dear misfortune."

I nod, but suddenly think of another question. "Your Honor, will I have the same past when I am ten? For instance, will I have memories of my unlived life before it?"

"Good question," he says, folding his hands neatly. "Only time will be able to answer that question. Your life before that is like someone hit an ultra-speed fast-forward button from the time you were born to the time you first wake up in your new life, in your case when you're ten years old. Your life will not be the same, except for the things that are destined to be. Only _you_, Renesmee Carlie Cullen, hold the key to that lock."

I gulp. He makes it sound like I'm the answer to everyone's unsolved questions.

"Be ready to see Isabella Marie and Edward Anthony," he tells me. "Micken will take you to them for a personal _greeting_."

All of a sudden, I turn and see Mick standing behind me. "Let's go, kid," he says.

"Thank you, Your Honor," I manage as Mick tows me away from the large oak desk.

"Anything, my dear Renesmee." He winks as the man yanks me down the marble steps of the building.

Part III:

Mick leads me to a huge limestone fountain with cupids and ferocious lion heads spewing the lavender water. Rain began to fall in sheets while we were walking, but now it just plunges like a waterfall. I am completely drenched through to my skins, and my bronze hair drips and hangs like limp string. My black high-top Cons slosh with water in every slowed step I take. I peek up at Mick under my soaked bangs and nod gently. He hands me the tarnished silver quarter as I step forward and place the coin on my thumb, which is tucked under my curled index finger. This is _it_.

I snap my thumb up and watch as the quarter flips and somersaults through the air. It hits the surface of the odd-colored water, and I find myself holding my breath nervously.

A stunning light erupts from the lavender fountain into a pearl cloud of mist. Mick and I watch in astonishment as a picture of Bella and Edward appears. They are sitting in the all-too-familiar front room of the small cottage. She sobs without tears as Edward takes the glass picture frame from her hand and traces the person in the photo with his slender finger. The girl in the photo is me.

Mick places a hand on my shoulder. "It looks like someone beat us to the punch, kid," he whispers.

"Yeah," I barely manage. I reach out to the mist but Mick wrenches my hand back.

"Go on," he encourages. "Say something, but don't touch it. We'll lose contact." He nudges me closer to the fountain. The pounding of the rain seems to quiet to an all-out silence, but the water still comes down in buckets. I blink a few times as my heart thuds anxiously.

What am I going to say? What am I _supposed _to say? _Hi, it's Nessie. I kinda died a few hours ago…_

"B-Bella? E-Edward?" I stammer, clutching my locket.

"Renesmee?" Bella sobs. "Renesmee, is that you?" She turns around and sees me standing there in the form of the mist, as if I am a ghost. "_Nessie!_" she cries and runs to me. The mist shimmers as she tries to hug me, and she steps back. "Nessie…what happened to you?"

"I was killed by a truck, Mom. I…I'm sorry."

Edward approaches, fear in his eyes.

"I know, baby, I know," Bella weeps. Her eyes scan me anxiously, looking for an answer, but she stands there in puzzlement.

"I'm in purgatory, and I'm getting a second chance at life. My memory will be erased, but everything will come back to me when I see you both together. You will both remember everything, but no one else will. I'm starting from the age of ten, and I don't know where I'll be, but the way you two met will stay the same. From the time I was born to now, everything will be different."

Bella bites her lip.

"We want you back, love," Edward whispers.

I nod. "I'm gonna come home, Dad. In a new life."

He looks at the ground, as if realizing something for the first time, and sighs.

"I have to go, Mom and Dad. I'm sorry."

"No, baby, please!" Bella suddenly hollers, and reaches toward the mist. It flickers, and then dies out. Again, I am standing in the pouring rain feeling so alone.

"Are…are you okay?" Mick asks, looking down at me.

"I'm fine," I murmur. "Fine."

"You're sure you wanna do this?"

"Yeah. Let's just get it over and done with."

Mick helps me into the fountain spewing lavender liquid. The water is warm against my cold skin and it goes knee-deep. He takes out a small, ornate bottle from his robe and clicks the top off. Golden fluid slides like honey down the glass as he tilts it over my head. It pours over my hair and sends shivers down my spine…its smell is so rich and delicious.

"What…scent…is…this?" I babble, suddenly feeling sleepy. Black dots dance across my vision, getting bigger each time.

"I'll see ya, Nessie," Mick says, just as I fall unconscious and drop into the water.

Then, I woke up.


	11. June 23, 2009

June 23, 2009~

_Tears are streaming down my face as I run through a dark city. Why am I crying? Where am I? I don't know._

_I run into the street and fall, only to be met by a huge truck barreling towards me. The lights are blinding…so, so bright. I hear the faint beeps of the vehicle as everything blurs…_

"NOOOO!!!" I scream, shooting upward in the lumpy bed. The darkness is all around me as the tears flow relentlessly down my cheeks. My breathing is labored and heavy as I fall back down onto the pillow and cry.

"Nessie, Nessie, what're you cryin' about?" a familiar voice whispers, shaking me.

"Violet," I find myself moaning, "Violet I was killed by a truck. I saw it…"

"It was just a dream," Violet assures me. "Now go back to sleep before Sister Laney wakes up and yells at us."

"Sister Laney…," I mutter, and roll over beneath the scratchy woolen blanket.

Violet shuffles back to her bed and snuggles under her sheets, the moonlight spilling into the room through the window. The silver light dances across the wooden floorboards and makes shadows as the trees sway in the breeze of night. All is silent…

I awaken to the sound of a bunch of girls talking and moving about the large room the next morning. My cheeks are sticky with dried tears and I have vague memories of a terrible nightmare. Sun streams in through the windows and throws golden beams of light across the bedroom floor. I get up and walk around aimlessly, meandering through the lines of beds and girls scattered all around. _Where's the bathroom here?_ I turn into a room branching off of the large bed chamber with white tiled floors and blue walls. Sinks and mirrors are lining the left wall and stalls and showers are lining the right. I saunter up to one of the sinks and look right into the eyes of the girl staring back at me.

The girl has waist-length bronze curls that flow over her shoulders and frame her head like auburn silk. Her pale face is like porcelain and her eyes are milk chocolate orbs. For a second, I blink and look away, but then notice that I feel…_younger_. I peer up at the mirror and find the girl staring at me again, her porcelain face full of confusion. She looks about ten years old…

"Ness?" a tiny voice says. I jump and turn around to find a small girl standing before me. Her skin is the same cream ivory as mine and her eyes are smoldering topaz. Her hair is long and pin-straight—black underneath the natural blond streaks.

"Nessie, are you okay?"

"Hey…um, I'm fine," I stutter, my voice sounding squeakier and more youthful. What happened?

She shrugs. "You woke with a nightmare last night. You're okay now though, right?"

"Yeah. I think I'm fine." I pause and look around. "Where are we?"

She laughs nervously. "Don't be silly, Ness. We're in the orphanage."

Orphanage. So that's where we were: an _orphanage_. The very thought of the word makes me anxious as it echoes throughout my head and bounces off the walls of my skull. I stream of quick memories flashes through my mind, but feel as if they are appearing for the first time. Pain sweeps in with them, reminding me vaguely of a loving mother and a feeling of security. There are also memories of the girl standing before me—a girl named Violet who is supposedly my cousin.

She cocks her head to one side. "Why are ya lookin' at me like that, Ness?"

"No reason," I say quickly.

"Well…c'mon then. We're gonna be late for breakfast and they don't serve lunch 'til one thirty. And I'm hungry," Violet says, taking my hand and yanking me out of the bathroom and down the stairs. As we approach the bottom, I pause.

"You okay?" she asks, her eyes full of confusion.

I shake all of the empty meaningless thoughts away and nod. "I told you before, Vi; I'm _fine_."

Violet doesn't say anything. She leads me to the breakfast hall and we take a seat a long wooden table with a bunch of other girls. They are wearing the same blue nightgowns as we are, and a young nun comes by with a tray of oatmeal. She places bowls in front of us and I stare down at the discolored mush.

"Are you gonna eat it?" a girl across from me asks blankly. Her silver eyes watch me as I breathe in deeply.

"I don't know. Probably not," I whisper, looking down at the bowl.

Violet's eyebrows are knit together in concern. "Nessie, you always eat the oatmeal. You're sick, aren't you?"

"No," I reply. "I'm a little confused." To start, where am I?

"Confused about what?" the girl across from me asks. "You've been here for the last six years. Nothing's changed since then."

"Six years?"

"Yeah," Violet explains. "You've been at St. Scholastica's since you were four. Don't you remember the day we met? We found out we were cousins…"

Suddenly, I zone out to see a blur of images from the past flashing before my eyes. Everything slows: _a small girl staring out a rain-splattered window. Her hair is long and curly, and her pale skin adds to the dreary setting. Her eyes watch each individual drop slide down the glass and she blinks away a single tear. It drips down her ashen cheek and off of her chin as she whispers, "When are you coming, Mommy?"_

"_Are you alright, dear?" a woman asks, approaching._

_The girl turns to see a very young nun standing there. Her eyes are soft ebony and her black silk hair is hidden beneath her habit._

"_Mommy said she was coming right back," the girl murmurs, another tear slipping away. "It's been two weeks."_

"_Oh, my dear child," the nun coos, cradling her in her arms. "I'm afraid your mother isn't going to come back."_

_*flashback ends*_

Time out: SIX FREAKIN' YEARS?!

How did I get here? Who was that girl I saw in that flashback? And…this girl Violet's my cousin?? I begin to sweat and my breathing turns into nervous pants as another flashback approaches, this one only showing brief clips and pictures: _"Hi," the curly haired girl says, approaching a small child who looks like a younger Violet. "I'm Nessie Cullen. Nice to meet you." She holds out a hand, but Young Violet simply stands there, tears staining her cheeks._

"_What's wrong?" Nessie asks._

"_Momma's gone," Young Violet whispers._

"_Aw, no she's not. My mommy says she'd be right back. I've only been here a few days, but I'm sure Mommy will come soon. So, what's your name?" Nessie demands just as a girl with short white-blonde hair and silver eyes comes up behind her. "We got a newcomer?" she asks with a slight lisp._

_Nessie nods. "Yup. She's not talkin' much."_

_Young Violet just stands there, her lower lip quivering._

"_Well?" Silver says. "You got a name, or what? By the way, I'm Lily."_

"_I'm Violet," she says quietly. "Violet Cullen."_

—

_A large playroom is the setting. A bunch of girls are in it, all playing dolls or board games. I find Nessie, Lily, and Violet in the corner sitting cross-legged with wide eyes. Nessie and Lily look about seven now and Violet appears to be six._

"_So tell us, Ness," Lily says anxiously, her lisp less noticeable. "What was your family like?"_

_Nessie takes a deep breath and begins: "All I can remember is Mommy, but I do know my daddy's name was Edward. Mommy had long brown hair that curled on the ends and her skin was really white…like mine! And, um, her eyes were gold like autumn leaves…but when I was born they were brown like mine. And then they were like a dark red." There is a look of perplexity on Nessie's face as she tries to remember correctly. "But that was before the gold."_

_Violet and Lily stare at her in puzzlement. "Your momma can't have three eye colors," Lily scoffs._

"_But she did!" Nessie exclaims. "Brown, maroon, then gold. And she always played with me and brought me to the park." Nessie sighs sadly. "Her name was Bella and I loved her." There is an awkward pause and then Lily says, "You're lucky. I'll never know what it's like to have a momma."_

"_So, this is what it's like? Bein' orphans, I mean," Violet squeaks, her voice high and cheery._

"_Yup," Lily replies. "Been here since I was born. Don't know who my momma is and I guess I don't really care. She didn't want me in the first place."_

_Violet shrugs. "Whatever, Lily."_

—

_A large field is laid out ahead of me. I see a group of girls, ones I recognize from the orphanage, and a tall woman standing over them in a baseball cap and a silver whistle around her neck. The brown leaves are scattered across the grass and the chilly air tells me it's late autumn. The girls are wearing blue jerseys and padding underneath them. Nessie and Lily look ten now and Violet looks nine. Nessie looks exactly like me._

"_Okay, ladies," the woman in the cap begins, "Play by the rules here. The boys from St. Joseph will _not_ be too rough with you, I promise. If they are they get called outta the game." One girl with two black braids raises her hand._

"_Yes, Mable?" the coach says._

"_Um, do we have to play, Miss Kana?" Mable asks, her voice shaking softly._

"_Mable, you can call me Coach. And c'mon; it's just Thanksgiving football between St. Scholastica's and St. Joe's! It'll be fun, I swear!" Coach Kana encourages._

_A little girl who looks younger than Violet raises her hand, but doesn't wait: "Sister Helen says swearing is bad."  
"No, not that kind of swearing," Coach Kana assures her._

_The girl nods her head and they all put their hands in. "On three, yell GIRLS RULE, okay?" she instructs. "One, two, three…"_

"_GIRLS RULE!!" all of them holler, off-synch._

"_Good enough," Coach Kana mutters. "Now get out there and kick their—" A few nuns are staring at her with raised eyebrows._

"_Kick their hineys, that's what I was saying," Coach says, clapping pathetically. "So go get 'em!"_

_Nessie and Lily race out onto the field with Violet trailing behind them. The St. Joe's boys are gathered on the other side of the field and staring at all the girls suspiciously. The girls gather into a huddle and put their heads together._

"_We can beat them," Mable whispers. "Right?"_

"_Of course," Lily snorts. "They're just a bunch of sissies. Because we all had nails for breakfast, we're all tougher than them, right guys?"_

_No one answers and Mable whimpers._

"_Take it easy, I was just kidding," Lily snorts._

"_What's the game plan?" Nessie questions._

_Lily shrugs. "I dunno, we'll just play it by year." And with that, the group splits up and races to the spots again. The boys suddenly look a whole lot bigger and meaner than before…_

_Coach Kana blows the whistle and Lily yells "HIKE!" and passed the ball back to Mable. The small girl caught it with a *thud* against her chest and she stands there, dazed, for a moment. One of the boys leaps forward and immediately tackles Mable, who screams and rolls on the grass. The boys coach takes the tackler out of the game and Coach Kana hollers out, "Hey, Mable, you okay?"_

"_Nooo," Mable mutters, her eyes still shut closed. Nessie jogs over and offers a hand to her, helping her to her feet in the matted grass._

"_Ya took quite a spill there, Mabe," she says._

"_I know," Mable murmurs, "but that kid was kinda cute!"_

_*flashback ends*_

"Dude," the girl across from me says, "quit staring. You're creepin' me out."

"Lily," I mutter to myself. "That's right, you're Lily! Of course you are!!"

She and Violet both give me strange looks and she says, "I'm sending you to the nurse."

"I'm fine, I just had a…brain fart," I cover up nervously. "Really, I'm totally okay."

Lily raises her eyebrow and begins shoveling the mush into her mouth quickly. Violet takes a small nibble and shakes her head. These people must think I've lost it…

"Hey Lily, can you help me with Spanish homework?" a small girl with long black hair in a French braid says, leaning over a tapping her on the shoulder.

"Sure, sure," Lily says. "I'll help you in study hall."

"Hey…_Mable_," I pronounce her name clearly, recognizing the girl who was tackled a few months ago in a football game.

"Hey, Ness," Mable says. "What's up?"

"Nothing. I just love that name; hey do you remember that Thanksgiving football game a few months ago?" I say excitedly, feeling like I know everything around this place.

"Yeah," she mumbles, her high voice going lower than usual. "Um…why?"

"Just wondering…we have school today?"

Mable, Violet, and Lily all stare at me with puzzled expressions. "That's it," Violet confides. "You're going to the nurse."

Part II:  
The nun who is the nurse pulls the thermometer out of my mouth and stares at the temperature. "98.6," she mutters. "Healthy as a horse."

Violet folds her arms and sighs loudly. "There's something wrong with her, Sister Georgia. She doesn't know who anyone is or _where_ she is."

"I do to!" I exclaim, my eyebrows knitting together. "You're my cousin Violet, and those two girls were Lily and Mable. We're at St. Scholastica's orphanage. I've been here since I was four."

"Oh really? Who's your science teacher?" Violet asks, looking at me incredulously.

"Sister…Sister…" I decide to take a wild guess. "Sister Ofelia?"

"You're wrong, Ness. You and me have science together: the third and fourth graders are with Sister Quinn." Her voice quivers. "What's wrong with you? Do you even remember your own mother?"

"Yeah," I say, remembering the flashback I had. "Her name was Bella. She had three different eye colors and brown hair. But I can't remember my father because I lived with him for only a little while."

Violet narrows her eyes at me and Sister Georgia says, "Well, Violet???"

"What was his name?" Vi asks, wrinkling her nose.

"Um, er…" I forget that part! Oooh, what was his name, what was his NAME?! It began with an _E_: Ethan, Eddie, Edgar, Elbert, Evan…_Edward_!! That was his name. "Edward," I reply matter-of-factly. "Ha."

"Fine," Violet scoffs. "That was a lucky guess. But I think you have abnesia."

"Amnesia," Sister Georgia corrects. She puts the thermometer in a cabinet and turns to us again. "Violet, if she's having any other trouble remembering, take her back here. Understand?"

Violet nods solemnly and leads me out of the office.

"Why were you interrogating me like I was some sort of prisoner?" I ask as soon as we are a safe distance from the open door. "I thought we were family, not lawyer and witness."

"Family remembers family," Violet says coldly. "You didn't even remember who I was this morning! We've been here for six years, Nessie." She laughs bitterly. "You probably don't even know what 'Nessie' is short for!"

Now I am insulted. "Of course I do! It's short for Renesmee! How could I forget that?"

"I don't know how, but you _would_," she sneers. "Especially the way you've been acting lately."  
"I'm not a morning person!" I shoot back. "Sorry if I ever wake up a little dazed after a good night's sleep. But, God forbid, what if I _am_ a little dazed?! Oh my God, alert the police!"

"You didn't even have a good night's sleep last night," Violet snaps. "You woke up with a nightmare."

Suddenly, I pause and a flashback begins: _Two girls and two boys are outside of a movie theater, the two boys and one girl standing by the entrance while a girl stomps in another direction. Suddenly, I am in the angry girl's point of view—the girl by the entrance gapes as I trip and fall face first into the road, my Converse shoelace getting caught in the sewer ledge. I bend down and try to wedge it out. _Oww…

"_Charlotte! What are you doing?!" she hollers, but I ignore her. My cheeks flush with chagrin as I yank and tug at the lace. Damn, it was stuck pretty well in there._ Charlotte? Who's that?

_One of the workers runs out to me and grabs my arm. His large brown eyes are full of uncertainty._

"_Let go of me!" I order, pushing his eager hand away with my elbow. _Why am I resisting his aid?

"_No, ma'am. You have to get outta the road. Let me help," he says. His voice is young, innocent. He looks no older than sixteen._

"_I got this, LET GO!" I shout, wrenching at the string harder. _What am I doing? Why won't I accept his help? I need help before something dangerous happens!!

"_Ma'am, we will get struck by a—" We both look up inn unison to see a giant truck speeding towards us. Its headlights blind me._

"_TRAVIS!!" the other boy yells._

"_CHARLOTTE!!" the girl at the entrance echoes._

"_Oh…no," Travis says, his voice only a zombie-like drone. I hold my breath and jerk at the lace harder and harder, making zero progress._

"_Get outta here, kid," I hiss to him. He doesn't respond with even a slight flinch. Beads of sweat form on my forehead as I pull with all my might at it. "Save yourself, Travis!" I demand, but his eyes are dazed like a blind man's. _I'm trying to rip the lace out, but it's stuck! What's wrong with this kid Travis? Why isn't he moving??? Who's controlling my words and actions? I'm definitely not!

_I try to get my shoe off, but the tight shoelace is cutting off the circulation in my foot. Right away, I know death is near. So near, I can feel its rotten breath on my neck._

"_God, have mercy," I murmur as my life flashes before my eyes. "I love you Bella and Ed—" There is a crack of thunder, the honk of a horn, the striking light of the truck, and then a bloodcurdling screech that will remain in my mind forever—it is none other than my own._

_Everything blurs, and it is now that the pain shoots through me so bad that fire would feel nice right now; it dissolves just as fast. Then there is blackness, with only a delicate stream of light at the end of the tunnel. Today, I have met death. _Death…death…Bella and Ed…_Edward_. She was saying 'Edward'. Is she my sister or something?

"See!!" Violet suddenly explodes. "There you go again! You keep zoning out and even when I say your name multiple times you don't even flinch!"

"I'm sorry!" I cry. "I don't mean it, really. I just keep getting these 'blasts from the past' and I have no clue why!"

Violet glared at me. "Blasts from the past? That's your excuse, Ness? That's pathetic." Violet stomps off and doesn't look back, leaving me standing in the empty corridor.

"You better get to your first morning class," Mable says, coming up behind me unexpectedly. I jump and turn around, my heart pounding at the sudden scare. Mable looks just as shocked as I am.

"Do you think I'm alright, Mable?" I ask.

She doesn't say anything. "You're a good friend…I would keep you. But you seem different today. Is that what you're asking?"

I nod. "Everyone keeps saying that something's wrong with me. But nothing is! I just feel like I'm waking up from a very long sleep." Mable stays quiet. "That's not weird, is it?" I say, biting my lip.

"Kinda," Mable murmurs and hurries past me. I sigh deeply and stare at the ground. _What _is_ wrong with me?_ It's not just the fact that I feel rather out of it, but that I feel…_inhuman_.

I laugh bitterly to myself and shake my head, clearing the thoughts. Yeah, there probably is something wrong with me.

Then, I woke up.


	12. June 24, 2009

June 24, 2009~

A few weeks pass, each arriving with humid, sticky weather and the bright sun. The last day of fourth grade just happened, so now I am left at the orphanage to do whatever I want. Mostly I hang out with Violet and Lily, but sometimes I clean the library with Mable. Life begins to get normal. I'm not confused anymore, and Violet immediately forgave me after I apologized for my weird behavior. Lily knows more about me than I do, and I find myself laughing with her on a daily basis. They treat us well at St. Scholastica's, but each day I feel the hole in my heart getting bigger. Each day, the longing for my mother gets worse…

"Hey, Ness!" Mable calls from the end of the hallway. "Nessie!"

I turn around from coming out of my room and see Mable jogging up to me, her long black hair flowing behind her. "Ness, I was wondering if you wanted to help Sister Ruth with the library again today," she says.

"Sure," I agree. I have nothing better to do.

"Great," Mable says, her grinning widening. "Let's go now. Sister Ruth will only get about five books on the shelf in a matter of two hours if we don't do it now."

I giggle, thinking of the shriveled old nun and nod. "Okay. Let's go."

Mable and I walk down to the library, a big room with lots of windows and shelves lined with multicolored children and teen books. Sister Ruth is sitting behind her desk, putting books onto a cart. Her delicate wrinkly hands quiver as she places each book onto the cart, and her huge thick glasses sit at the edge of her nose. Her white hair is pulled back into a tight bun and her eyes looked like they are closed.

"Betty? Betty is that you?" she asks, her small voice shaking as we enter.

"No, Sister Ruth. It's Nessie and Mable. We're here to help you put the books away," I say.

Sister Ruth widens her eyes and then squints again, leaning in closer to try and get a good look at us. "Oh, thank you, girls." She smiles. "Such pleasures to have such lovely little children help me."

Mable and I get right to work, stacking the books on the cart and wheeling them to their proper shelves as we put them away.

We are in the back of the library when I suddenly say, "I'll go get more books."

"You want the cart?" Mable offers.

"Nah," I reply. "You still have books on there, so I'll just get a few more. Besides, it's dinnertime in twenty minutes."

"Okay," she says as I quickly walk down the aisles and finally arrive back at Sister Ruth's grand desk.

"How many more do you need, dear?" she asks, facing the wall on the other side of her.

"Um, Sister, I'm over here," I say awkwardly.

Sister Ruth laughs good-humoredly and says, "Oh yes. Silly old me." She hands me about ten other books. "Here you are, Renesmee. After this we have dinner, so this shall be all for today."

"Yeah," I answer. Phew! I'm glad that finally our long work in the library is almost over. It's good we're helping Sister Ruth though. She's just so small and frail for a giant library.

Suddenly, a bloodcurdling scream echoes throughout the immense shelves. It rattles my bones, and I drop the stack of books I am carrying.

"What on Earth was that?!" Sister Ruth cries, putting her hands over her head for safety as if something is about to fall off the ceiling and land on her.

Oh crap. Mable!

I leave the books scattered and upturned on the carpet and take off running to the back of the library where we were working. "Mable? Mable?!" I cry desperately, searching for her in the area where she is supposed to be. "Mable, where are you??"  
I hear a whimper from the corner and turn to see her curled up. Her face is hidden against her knees and my heart pounds in my ears as I run toward her. I crouch in front of her and try to coax her out of her shell. "Mable, what happened?"

She lifts her head and her face is stained with tears; her eyes are wide and frantic as well. "There was a man…a man…a tall one…he was very white…and his eyes were black…he appeared out of nowhere…and he…he…" She bursts into tears again and buries her face into my shoulder.

"What did he do?" I demand. "Did he hurt you??"

"No," Mable blubbers. "He didn't touch me at all. But he told me not to scream…I screamed, Nessie, I screamed! And he growled like an animal…Ness, I was scared…you were gone…and Sister Ruth was gone…I was alone…" Her breathing was heavy and labored as she tried to relax herself.

"It's okay," I assure her, even though I don't know if that is the truth.

Part II:

Dinner arrives. Mable is completely shaken out of her skins and so am I. Violet and Lily immediately notice. "You guys look like you saw a ghost," Lily jokes, her silver eyes sparkling mischievously. I don't say anything, just stare at her. "What, I was right?" Lily asks, amazed. Violet's face is full of concern. "What happened, Ness?"

I shake my head. "Mable says she saw a man with white skin and black eyes in the back of the library. She said he growled at her, too, when she screamed."

"A ghost?!" Lily exclaims. "I was right??"

"It obviously wasn't a ghost," I snap. "Ghosts don't exist."  
"Then was it a ghoul?"

"Probably not."

"A…a _vampire_?" she asks, raising her eyebrows.

"Lily, let it go!" Violet interrupts. "Ghouls and vampires don't exist!!"

"Yeah, okay...," she scoffs and walks off.

"Is Mable alright?" Vi questions.

I turn to Mable. Her eyes are still large wide circles and her skin is still starkly pale. Her lips are pressed shut.

"Mable, are you alright?" I repeat. She still doesn't answer. She doesn't even flinch when we say her name.

"Mable?!" Violet shouts. "Can you hear us?"

Mable looks at the ground and says, "I just want to get out of here. He's still on the campus. I can sense him." She faces me. "He's looking for you, Nessie. Be careful."

I stagger back at her comment and shake the ugly thoughts away of kidnapping and rape. Why would he be looking for me? What did I do?

Mable walks away, her legs stiff like a zombie's. I feel my lip quivering as I stare in horror after her. "What's wrong?" Violet asks.

"For the first time, I feel like I'm being watched," I murmur.

Then, I woke up.


	13. June 25, 2009

June 25, 2009~

A few days have passed ever since the man scared Mable and me in the library. The feeling of being stalked has worn off a little bit, but that eeriness of being watched hasn't quite left yet completely. Finally, Lily, Violet and I decide to play outside near the river a little bit.

"Have you ever been cliffdiving?" Lily asks, smiling cleverly. Violet and I exchange nervous glances. "Never," we reply in unison.

"Well, you won't be able to say that anymore." Lily skips out the huge brass doors and into the field of high yellow grass swaying in the hot summer breeze of the afternoon.

"Is that why were wearing these ridiculous wetsuits?" Violet jokes, her black and blonde streaked hair glowing in the sunlight.

"Yep. We're gonna have a blast! It'll be to celebrate the end of fourth grade," Lily grins triumphantly. "And, third grade too for Violet."

My cousin smiles. "Thank you, Lily."

We race down to the river bank and dip our bare feet into the icy black water. "It looks a little rough today," I call out cautiously, letting the coldness chill me to the bone.

"It's fine," Lily answers, care-freely. She leads us up to the top of the cliff and sniffs the salty New York State air. "It's perfect," she claims, stripping down to her wetsuit. I follow her action, but Violet stays dressed. "I'll just watch you guys," she mutters, plopping down somewhere.

Lily trots to the edge of the cliff and peers down into the churning water. Her pearly teeth glisten in the midday sunshine and she grabs my hand, pulling me to the edge. "You gonna jump?" she asks, beaming.

I nod. "Okay," I agree as a rush of excitement shoots through me. "Are you sure this is safe?"

"Perfectly fine. I've seen the older girls do it all the time. I watch 'em. It looks like they sure do have a lot of fun."

"How much older?" I ask nervously.

Lily hesitates. "Well…like fourteen and fifteen year olds. But it doesn't matter. That'll be us in—what? Four years? Piece o' cake." I stroll carefully to the edge and I look over as Lily watches. I hold my breath as I ready myself to jump. The great southern wind whips my hair around my pale face. Ominous thunderclouds brew dangerously in the far distance.

"Whacha waitin' for, Nessie?!" Violet shouts to me. I turn to face her, who is sitting on a busted up log about ten feet away from me. Her deep golden-brown eyes sparkle with anticipation.

"You're coming with us," I insist, wrenching her off the log and dragging her to the edge of the rocky cliff.

"No, no, please! I'm afraid of heights!" she begs.

"No you aren't," I correct, grasping her hand. "This will be fun!"

"Please, Violet?" Lily pleads. Her short white-blonde hair is let loose for once, and it blows wildly in the ferocious wind.

"No, you guys go on without me," Violet says.

Lily and I exchange glances. "Okay, fine," Lily manages.

"Thanks guys," Violet breathes.

Then Lily smirks and in unison, we say, "Denial!" I grab Violet's wrist, as does Lily, and we pull her to the ledge. Violet squeals. "Please don't make me!"

"Aw geez, Vi, you didn't put your wetsuit on for nothin', did ya?" I ask playfully.

"Yes, I did," she croaks, but Lily rips her sweater off and tosses it onto the log beside ours'.

"Would you jump even if today was your last day to live?" Lily says.

Violet snorts in reply.

"I take that as a yes!" Lily declares and grabs my hand excitedly. I snatch Violet's and feel the sweet-smelling breeze brush my hair from my forehead. The thunderclouds begin to clear and the sun's God Rays poured through the grey puffs. The deep river water stirs beneath us, a hundred feet away.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Violet mutters as she shuts her eyes and holds her breath.

"To another great school year!" Lily shouts over the roaring wind. We step forward as the wind blows the clouds as quick speed through the blue sky, revealing the late afternoon sun as they part. The glare from the sun hits me just as I take my last gulp of air.

But then…a brief image of a familiar woman flashes through my mind: _her chestnut brown locks fly around her pale face. The wind picks up and suddenly she runs forward, leaping off the cliff she is standing on. For a second, she is flying through the air, until she drops uncontrollably into the dark grey sea water beneath her. She struggles to claw her way to the surface as columns of silver bubbles engulf her…_

"You ready, Ness?" Lily asks. Her innocent silver eyes are full of question.

I float back to reality and blink hard. "Of course! Let's go!!"

"Three…two…ONE!" Lily hollers as we sprint forward and jump into the air!"

"WOO HOO!!!" I scream. "Fifth grade, here I come!" But then I hear something…someone saying: "No, Renesmee, don't!"

"Violet!!" another deep male voice cries. Violet doesn't notice her name being called, though. So we fall, screaming for joy, as two unknown people mourn the fact that my cousin and I just jumped over that cliff in an act of recreation.

My breath escapes from my lungs as we fall. The wind is so strong that it blows my bronze hair back and whips it around my face. Lily shrieks once more, then we plunge into the deep unknown…

I feel the iciness spreading through my feet, then shoot up my legs and devour the rest of me. We are immersed in the piercing, frozen water of the river immediately, and the liquid floods my ears. But I continually recall the distressed call of the man. His voice was…oddly familiar. How did he know our names?

Maybe it was the Headmaster. That crazy old coot didn't know fun if it smacked him right in the face. Or maybe it was my stalker that scared Mable? What does he want with me? I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!!!!!

I fight my way to the surface, breaking through and gasping for air. Lily and Violet pop up too.

"That...was…AWESOME!" Lily exclaims excitedly.

"I'm never doing that again," Violet pants. We tread water and splash each other playfully as the sun breaks through the last of the stormy clouds.

Then, something yanks me under the surface. I cough and twist through the water, my foot being pulled by something.

"Nessie!" I hear Lily and Violet yell desperately. I reach into the nothingness, trying to grab algae or rocks to bring me back. My breath is shortening as the water burns my throat and lungs. Suddenly, I black out.

Part II:

My head is throbbing. It beats with my pulse, swelling each time and making me dizzy. I open my eyes to see Violet and Lily sitting on a chunk of driftwood, wrapped in towels. They are dripping wet and have worried but stubborn expressions on their faces. They are…sideways? Which way is up? I turn onto my back and stare into the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen.

His whole face is stunning and so familiar. His eyes are like Violet's—golden topaz. They shine beautifully and his bronze tousled hair is absolutely perfect, despite the drops of water that drip down his face. His skin is a chalky white, like mine, and it sparkles like a thousand diamonds in the midday sun.

"Hello, Renesmee," he says, and his hypnotizing voice is as smooth as velvet. A soon as he speaks, a flash of images come to my mind. Then, it slows on one particular image…

_A sterile room with a woman on the table is the setting. Her stomach is huge but she is in immense pain. She spazzes and jerks with every shock of agony. There are people running all around her, two in particular being a man with tan skin and black shaggy hair. The other has messy bronze hair, but his face is blurred. I try my hardest to see clearly, but I get nothing._

_The woman's face is slowly turning blue as the blurred man growls, "CPR?"_

"_Yes!" the Native American boy shouts._

"_Get her breathing! I've got to get him out before—" His voice is cut off by an awful, sick cracking noise. I jolt away from the table as her legs cripple._

"_Her spine," Bronze chokes in horror._

"_Get it _out_ of her!" Shaggy snarls, flinging a sharp object at Bronze, "She won't feel anything now!" Suddenly, he bends over her and presses his lips to her mouth, breathing out huge puffs of air. A horrible shredding noise sounds throughout the room as blood splatters to the floor. I scream without noise and cover my ears with my hands, shutting my eyes._

"_You stay with _me_ now, Bella!" Shaggy yells at the woman. _Bella. The name of my mother…

_Her eyes were wheeling as I scramble to the door, my clammy hands grasping the knob. I try to pry it open, but as hard as I twist it, it stays shut. "Someone help me get out of here!" I scream, blood dripping down my clothes from what splattered on the floor._

_And then, Bronze has something in his arms. Not some_thing_, but some_one_. A baby._

"_Renesmee," Bronze whispers, his voice trembling._

"_Let me…," Bella croaks in a broken whisper. "Give her to me…Renes…mee. So…beautiful." I slowly approach the table, cowering in fear at everything that is happening right in front of my eyes. The baby's matted bronze curls are thick and dark against the clumped blood. Her porcelain face is indeed beautiful, and her eyes are a warm milk chocolate. Under her cheeks are a flush of red—blush. She smiles, revealing her brilliant white teeth lying behind her shell-pink lips. But I realize something very, very wrong._

_The baby girl is me._

_*flashback ends* _**(Disclaimer: all Breaking Dawn quotes/characters/scenes in this section of the story are Stephenie Meyer's)**

"Who are you?" I stutter nervously.

"I am Edward," he says. Suddenly, a jolt of flashbacks occur again. My head aches and I try to shake everything away. I rub my head and sigh audibly. "Are you alright?" Edward asks, his amber eyes meeting mine worriedly.

"What happened…?"  
"You were pulled under by something," he says, his smooth voice only so recognizable.

Violet rolls her eyes. "Yeah, it was somethin' all right," she mutters. She gestures toward the man.

"It wasn't me," Edward says defensively. "You should be lucky enough that we were there, because I saved her."

"We?" I say, a little disoriented.

"Yeah," Lily snorts. "And that big scary dude over there." She motions to the big bulky muscular man with the same white skin and gold eyes. He has dark curly hair and dimples. He and this "Edward" guy look like they are up to no good.

"What are you doing here? On an _all-girls'_ orphanage campus?" Violet asks, approaching us cautiously. The big man sits down on the log next to Lily, but sends Lily's side catapulting upward. She slides down at bumps into him, shaking with fear as he studies her carefully.

"You shouldn't be here," I say standing up. I waver unsteadily, but catch my balance. "The nuns will punish you."

"Nuns?" the big man asks incredulously.

"Yeah. _Nuns_," Lily snaps, scrambling over to Violet and me.

"Goodbye. Thank you sir," I say as we jog back to the large open prairie where the buildings are.

"Wait!" Edward calls. He appears in front of us with his friend so fast, you could "butterscotch" and he'd be there in front of you before you even said "utt".

"What do you _want_ from us?!" Violet demands. Edward locks eyes with me. Again, a flashback: _a girl with wavy brown hair who looks like Bella is in the corner of a ballet studio, writhing in pain. Blood is all over the wooden floor. A pale man with cropped sandy hair saunters over to her and kneels down. Bella begins to pant as her arms shake violently. The man takes one of them and with a knowing smile, bites down on her wrist. She screams in anguish, and as fast as lightning, a man jumps from the high shattered window and tackles him. They plow through the floorboards, the wooden beams flying everywhere. Then the tackler grabs his enemy by the collar and shoves him into a mirror with his foot. The glass buckles and shatters to the floor..._

_***flashback ends***_

I look away from Edward's face and at the long blades of grass instead. "See?" Violet continues. "You make her sick just looking at you!"

"Renesmee," Edward repeats. There is another set of flashbacks. Shorter ones, just pictures and places I've been to and seen in another life. It makes my head spin.

"How do you know my name?" I barely manage to whisper. Edward takes a deep breath before continuing. "I know your mother," he says. "Bella."

Then, I quiver and a million pictures run through my mind again. One in particular sticks in my head: _a little girl with wild auburn curls splashing red and black and blue paint onto paper with her bare hands. "Look, Mommy!" she exclaims, pointing enthusiastically to the picture._

"_Wow! You have such amazing talent!" a thin, average-height woman says. She has long wavy mahogany hair and topaz eyes. Her skin is chalk white._

_She looks like Edward._

_*flashback ends*_

But then I realize that she is the same woman in all my other memories. The girl leaping off the cliff, the one giving birth, the one in the ballet studio...the one that I suddenly remembered when I first awoke here.

My mother Bella.

Now even Violet and Lily are frozen. They stand motionless beside me and stare at Edward in disbelief.

"B-Bella?" I stammer.

Edward nods slowly.

I collapse into the man with a giant hug. He strokes my wet hair gingerly. "Is she alive?" I say.

"Yes," Edward replies. "She is indeed alive." I burst into tears and let the man comfort me. Edward lets go of me and looks me straight in the eyes. "We have some talking to do."

Part III:

Edward and I sit on the large rocks overlooking the restless dark grey river. It looks like an ocean.

"So...," I begin. "You say you know my mother—Bella. How?"

Edward hesitates. "Your mother and I are very, very good friends. We always talk." He pauses. "She had a hard time giving you up. A very hard time."

"Then why did she do it?"  
He doesn't say anything for a long time. "Complications. It's hard to raise a family when you're young."

"How old is she?"

"Um...twenty-eight." It sounds like a lie, I don't argue.

"She had me when she was eighteen." I shudder and grasp the golden locket around my neck.

"Yes. Do you remember her at all?"

I breathe in, close my eyes peacefully, and smile, as if smelling her sweet skin again. "Of course. I was four when I arrived here, so I do have vague memories of her. Long, wavy brown locks...honey-gold eyes...chalky white skin...a beautiful smile..." I sniffle. "We used to spend so much time together. Especially in the end. It was just the two of us, living in an apartment in Seattle. She took me everywhere with her. Shopping, playing, and laughing; every day was a good day with her. Then one day, everything fell apart..." My eyes stare blankly in space as I recall that one day.

"Tell me more," Edward demands, almost hungry for more information.

"She was on the phone late at night with a woman. I believe the woman's name was Alice." Just then, another flashback: _a small, pixie-like girl with spiky black hair warm topaz eyes, and the same white skin. She was grasping my hand, pulling me along, excitedly saying, "C'mon, Nessie! We're gonna go buy Mommy an awesome birthday present!"_

_*flashback ends*_

"All I remember is hiding behind the wall and listening to her distressed words. She was crying so hard that I couldn't understand most of what she said...but I do remember her saying something like, 'How did they track us? _How_?! What do they want? We made a promise not to fight over her!' And then I realized that the 'her' Mom was referring to was _me_. My first thought was that someone was coming after me, even if it meant breaking some sort of agreement. And then, I thought that maybe this 'person' was the reason Mom and I were on our own in the first place. So that night, I crawled into Mom's lap and let her sob against me. I don't think she was technically crying, because there were no tears. But she was sobbing heavily...and she just held me. She shook and quivered and coughed and choked breathlessly. I'd...I'd never seen her so devastated in my entire life. She held me so tight, as if someone would swoop in right then and there and grab me from her. And I was scared...

"Then, all I remember is her walking me up the steps of this orphanage on a dark, cloudy day. Her hand was coiled around my wrist tightly, and for the first time I realized how rocklike and cold her skin was. So...so cold—like ice. She talked to a nun behind a desk in a small office for a little bit. Then she knelt down in front of me, held my shoulders, and said..." I freeze.

"What?" Edward insists. "What did she say??"

"I...I don't remember," I say miserably. "I don't know." Then I stiffen and my eyes stare blankly. Images flash vividly before me, like someone flipping through the channels at ultra-speed. It halts on a vision of Bella standing before me. Her amber eyes interlock with mine, and she looks deeply stressed. I find myself feeling six years younger, like a four year old: the day I entered the orphanage.

As the memory starts, I mouth Bella's words perfectly, reciting them to Edward all while hearing them play in my mind: "_Renesmee, Mommy has to leave for a little while. You're going to stay here until I come to get you. It's fun here, I promise; there are a bunch of other girls who will become your friends. I don't know when I will come to get you, but I want you to remember that I love you so much. Be good, Renesmee._"

Edward sits in silence for a second, brooding about who-knows-what. Then he says, "What did you, or she, do after that?"

"She kissed my forehead, got up, and walked out those big brass doors. I haven't seen her since. After she left, I was never the same. Me being young, I didn't know when she would come back. I was hoping within a few hours, but that obviously didn't happen.

"A few days after I arrived at the orphanage, Violet here showed up. A very pretty lady with blonde hair, white skin, and gold eyes brought her. But she left, too. She looked a little like Mom, with the skin and eyes. When we found out that our last names were both 'Cullen', we figured we were cousins. We didn't know for sure, but we both had pale skin. And Violet had the same eyes as Mom."

"I see," Edward says.

"Do you know my aunt, Violet's mom?"

"Yes," he almost grumbles.

"Do you know when our moms are coming to get us?"

Edward sighs sadly. "I don't know."

"Oh." I look at my feet and sniffle.

"Do you remember anything about your father?"

"His name was...Edward." I look up at the man in amazement. "Are you my _father_?!"

"Um, no," Edward says very quickly. "Coincidence, I swear." He pauses. "Do you know anything else?"

I try to think back. "No, to be honest."

For a second, Edward looks insulted. "That's a shame."

"It is," I agree half-heartedly. I open my locket gently and look down at the picture of Bella, me, and my father. He has reddish-brown hair, but his face is completely blurred. No matter how many ways I look at it, the cloud always stays opaque.

"Bella looks the same," Edward says, staring down at the picture with me.

"She does?"

"Yes. She misses you a lot."

I pout. "Then why doesn't she just come and get me? She knows where I am."

Edward shakes his head. "It's not as easy as that. Trust me."

I bite my lip and look down into the icy water. "I better be going."

"Of course," Edward says, helping me down from the rocks after leaping off lithely. "I'll see you tomorrow." He gives me a crooked grin and walks me back to the building, where his friend is with Violet and Lily.

"Let's go, Emmett," he calls to the man like he is his dog. "Goodbye Nessie and Violet."

Emmett waves, and then they are gone.

All through the night, I thought of Bella more than I ever thought I would. I toss and turn in my sleep, imaging her smiling face and her comforting laugh. Everything about Bella makes me more and more homesick, but at the same time it makes me long to see Edward again.

Then, I woke up.


	14. June 26, 2009

June 26, 2009~

The dark blue night sky is speckled with stars as red, white and blue lights decorate the orphanage campus. The sound of laughter and voices echoes throughout the peaceful valley, soaring over the mountains, trees, and river. Picnic tables are scattered across the prairie field, and the orphan girls dance among them, giggling and falling over into the yellow blades. It is the Fourth of July.

"Hey, Mable!" Lily calls, standing on a picnic table. "Who am I?" She begins dancing and jumping around and throwing her hair over and whipping it around. Lily begins an air guitar solo and starts kicking the air as she jams out with special sound effects.

Mable chuckles and sighs. "Um, a rockstar?"

"Yep," Lily says, bobbing her head to an imaginary beat. "Your turn."

"Do I have to stand on the table?" Mable asks, her voice shaking.

"Nah," Lily replies. "You can stay on the ground...you little land-creature you."

"Hey," Violet chimes. "You're a land-creature too."

"No I ain't!" Lily shouts. "I'm a sky-creature. Born to be wild, baby!"

"Nessie can be a water-creature," Mable jokes. "Like the Loch Ness monster."

"Ha ha, yeah," I say sarcastically. "And you're a land-creature 'cause you're just like a little mouse."

Mable frowns and Lily bursts out laughing. "HA! Good one, Ness!"  
"Yeah, har-har," Mable chides.

"Aw, Mabe, I was just kiddin'," I say.

She grins. "I know. So was I."

"_Lilian_!" Sister Francine thunders. "Get _off_ those picnic tables! You're going to get hurt!!"

Lily quickly leaps off and into the grass, landing with a thud.

"Looks like you're a land-creature now, too," Violet murmurs.

"Sky-creatures have legs, ya know. Like birds." Lily shrugs. "They can't just fly their whole lives. Then they'd get too tired. So of course we go on land with you land-ers sometimes." She grins cheekily. "That's 'cause sky-creatures are special."

"So are water-creatures," I add. "They can breathe underwater, like mermaids."

"Yeah, yeah, keep dreaming," Lily says, dancing off under the trees.

"Get ready, guys!" a girl exclaims. "The fireworks are coming on now! C'mon!!" She leads us off and we follow her through the woods, finally ending up in a green meadow pearl with moonlight. Most of the girls are there, all looking up at the sky anxiously.

"Who sets them off?" a little girl asks, pointing at the first gold explosion.

"The older boys at St. Joe's," a sixteen year old girl says knowingly.

"Ohmigod! Jimmy's probably setting them off over there! And OMG, Brad too!" one of the older girls shouts. They all start laughing at some stupid inside joke they probably had with the St. Joe's boys.

The youngest girls look up at the explosions of colors splattering across the sky while girls my age lie in the cool grass and close their eyes. The teenage girls all push each other around and hug each other and shout, "OMG do you remember when Tiffany threw the cake for Sister Gloria at Justin? Ohmigod, that was hysyerical!" "Ohimgod, yeah! Is Sister Gloria even alive anymore?" "How many years ago was that?" "Like in seventh grade." "Aw man, I wasn't here for that! I came in ninth grade."

The older girls are all best friends. Lily says it's only because all of them have been together since they were babies here, but I think they're all too lonely and need each other as their families...especially since they have none.

_Like me,_ I think to myself. I could tell myself that Bella is still out there all I want, but judging Edward's expressions, she most likely isn't coming back for me.

I look over at Lily lying in the grass beside me. _Lily and Violet and Mable are my only family now. _Or, at least, _for_ now.

Then, I woke up.


	15. June 27, 2009

June 27, 2009~

The streets of the small country town are empty as I walk among them. About a mile south of the orphanage is the town Darius Lake. Founded in seventeen eighty seven by blah, blah, blah.

The new nun at our orphanage, Sister Fiona (my favorite), has decided to take us into town today to do some exploring. The last time I was out in the world was probably when I was four years old, so I am entirely fascinated by everything around here. The sun is so bright and shiny as it beats down on my back. I skip along the sidewalk with Violet trailing behind me.

"Wait up, Ness!" she calls anxiously.

I come to a halt in front of a pet store, pressing my nose up against the window and peering inside.

"Oooh," I say, smiling. "Look what's in here, Vi! Puppies!!"

"That's great," Violet pants, leaning on her knees for support as she saunters toward me, too tired to say anything.

"Where's Sister Fiona?" I ask, not bothering to turn away from the thick glass. A little black lab puppy claws at his cage as he squeaks and wags his tail at me. "Hey there, little fella..."

"Sister Fiona is in the ice cream shop with the other girls," Violet says. "A few older girls went down the road a little more to go browsing in some clothing stores." Violet rolls her eyes. "But those are just the older girls." She looks into the window and the little puppy yelps excitedly.

"He sure is a cute one," Vi says, putting her hand up to the glass.

I sigh. I wish I had some time alone...

"How 'bout you go and get some ice cream with Sister Fiona? We never get ice cream at the orphanage, only the little kids. And only on really hot days."

Violet shrugs. "Whatever. I'll tell Sister Fiona where you are." And with that, she sprints off happily to the ice cream parlor.

I exhale deeply and open the door of the pet shop. Inside, there are cages everywhere and the strong smell of animals fills the room. There is a tall kid wearing a beanie hat behind the desk. He has a shaggy scrap of a beard on the edge of his chin and his feet are up. When the bell chimes to signal a customer, he quickly takes them down and looks up from his magazine. "Oh. Hey there, kid. Lookin' for a hamster?" He has a slight lisp.

I frown and shake my head. "Actually I was just looking through here. Pretty interesting place ya got here." I search through the aisles, looking up and down at the cages and supplies. A few birds squawk loudly, and the mice squeak innocently. All of a sudden, the door bell chimes again. I stand on my tippy toes and peek above the dog food jars to see Edward standing there, his hands in his pockets. He shuffles back to me and kneels down to my height.

"Hey, Nessie," he whispers, giving me that warm crooked grin.

"Hi," I murmur. I give him a big smile and a hug. "Where've you been for the past few days? You missed the fourth of July party last night!" Every day since Edward first visited me in June, he always came back and talked to me.

"Sorry," Edward confessed. "I was busy with Emmett."

"Okay." I look at my feet. "But you're here to stay now, right?"

"Actually...that's why I came to talk to you." He takes my hand and looks me square in the eye. "I'm leaving today, Renesmee."

For a second, I stop breathing. "What?" I stutter nervously. "What did you say?"

Edward takes a deep breath. "I'm going home. To Washington."

I begin to panic. How could Edward do this to me? Why does he want to go home? He is the only one I could connect to about Bella. He can't just leave me here! Could he?

Sure, I'm not his only priority but...that's right, though. He probably has a family and a job and a life back in Washington. Most important, he has Bella.

"How long will you be gone?" I stammer.

"Oh, not long. A few weeks," Edward says naturally. "I'll be back very soon, I promise."

I let out a sigh of relief. Of course he'll be back soon. Of course. He would never just leave me here alone.

"Come on," Edward says, taking my hand. "Let's get you back to Sister Fiona before she leaves." And we stand up and walk out the door.

Then, I woke up.


	16. June 30, 2009

June 30, 2009~

The rain pounds heavily against the roof of our dormitory at the orphanage. Lily stares out the window and leans against the cold glass, her breath leaving perspiration on the surface. "Ugh," she groans.

I place a quilt on the edge of my bed and sigh. "What's wrong?"

"It's raining."

"So?"

"We can't go outside tonight." Lily gets up and flops down onto her bed. "Stupid forecasters said it was supposed to be nice out."

I shrug. "It'd be dark by now anyway. Besides, it's after dinner and they wouldn't let us outside."

"They usually do," Lily snorts. "Actually, they always do. Especially during the summer."

I purse my lips and continue to fold my laundry that the nuns set out for us. "I'm sorry about you weather mishap, Lil."

"Yeah, yeah." Lily pauses. "Does that Eddie kid still come to talk to you?"

A soft pain reaches my heart and I look down. "He left a few days ago. He had to go home. But he said he'd be back very soon."

She shakes her head. "That's what they want you to think."

I shoot Lily a look of anger. "You don't know Edward like I do. He knows my mother."

"Hey didn't your mom say the same thing when she left you? 'I'll be right back.'"

"It…doesn't matter," I choke. "Mom was busy. She's still alive, and she'll be here any day. And Edward will be here too. He seems very sincere." I have to keep convincing myself that Edward was _going_ to come back. If I don't convince myself, he'll never come.

"Yeesh. Don't be so snappy," Lily defends.

"You have no idea what it's like to have a mother!" I sputter before I realize what I am saying. "You have no idea, Lily! Your mom left you here when you were a baby, so you never knew her. Me, I knew my mom. Her name was Bella and she loved me. She still does and she wants me back!"

Lily narrows her eyes at me. "Oh, so you're so special now because you _knew_ your mother?! What does that mean? Are you insinuating that my mother doesn't _love_ me?!"

"That's not what I said!"

"Oh, well sorry I misheard you. 'Cause it sure sounds like that!!"

"_I never said anything like that, Lily_!"

"My mom could come back any day now! She was just too young! That's all; just like you. Just because a stalker didn't show up to tell me my mom was okay doesn't mean that she's dead."

"Edward's not a stalker," I growl. The heat rushes to my cheeks in fury.

"He scared the crap outta Mable in the library, Ness. He wasn't even allowed to be here. He wasn't even allowed to be talking to you! It's not allowed here."

"Well sorry I'm not the St. Scholastica's Human Handbook!" I hiss.

"I've been here longer than you," Lily snarls. "I know way more than you do. Heck, I could probably live out here in the wild longer than you!"

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"It means that I'm way tougher than you! My whole life I've been surviving on my own. No one ever loved me like a daughter. I was left here on the steps like some sort of _Harry Potter_ character, never to be seen again! But you? Oh, no, God forbid if _you_ were left out on the steps here. Someone call the police, Nessie's been left out on the steps of an orphanage!"

"Just shut up."

"You were a _spoiled brat _when you were with her!" shouts, tears welling in her silver eyes. "You had everything. I had nothing and no one!"

"I wasn't a spoiled brat! Bella just tried to give me everything she could because she felt bad."

A tear rolls down Lily's cheek. "Oh yeah? When was the last time you got a Christmas present?" she asks, her voice quivering.

I hesitate. Is this a trick question?! "Um…when I was four, I guess."

"The last time I got one was the Christmas when I was in my mom's womb! _I_ wasn't even alive yet! I was just a nuisance in my mom's life. I was just a wretched little thing that was making her fat!!!"

"How is that _my_ fault???!!!"

Lily belly-flops onto her bed and buries her face in the pillows, crying.

"Fine," I say. "I'm leaving. I'm going down to the lobby, where people might actually want to see me." And with that, I storm out of the room fuming.

Part II:

Lightning illuminates the shadows of the room and sends flashes sprawling across the wooden floor. I snuggle deeper under the covers of my bed and slowly drift off to sleep…

_It is bright and sunny outside in a huge meadow. The sun penetrates through the grey clouds and sends rays streaming down into the grass where I am standing. A luscious forest surrounds me, blossoming with green leaves and flowers. All of a sudden, I hear footsteps behind me. I turn and see Bella standing there in a long white dress with her dark brown hair draped over her shoulders._

"_Mommy?" I whisper I look down at myself. My tiny features and squeaky voice tell me that I am four years old again._

"_Renesmee, dear," Bella greets warmly. "Where have you been?"_

_I shrug. "I don't know. Where have you been, Mommy?"_

_Bella sighs and takes me into her arms cradling me against her chest. "I've been protecting you, love."_

_I cock my head. "Protecting?"  
Bella's expression turns grave. "You aren't safe with me, Renesmee. I tried my hardest, but I just can't keep you out of harm's path."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_I can't keep you, love. I'm sorry."_

_And with that, she gets up and begins walking away, but suddenly we are in…our old apartment in Seattle? Bella is walking toward the door as I run to her and yank on her hand._

"_Momma, where are you going?" I ask anxiously._

_But when she looks down at me, her face is not Bella's._

_An angel face glares at me with glowing red eyes and dark, chin-short hair framing her face. Her skin is so white that it is almost transparent._

"_Hello, _Nessie_," she growls. "I just figured I'd drop in to say hello."_

_Suddenly, I am much taller, about this girl's height. My hair is shorter, cut to my upper back, and I have long jagged side bangs. My voice is deeper as I reach out for the door but feel a sharp pain in my wrist as the girl slaps it and snarls at me._

_I run back through the kitchen but she chases right after me, glass shattering to the floor as she tries to grab me._

"_Come back, Nessie! You can't run from all your problems!" she shouts after me as I sprint, panting, into Bella's closet. I shut the door and crouch behind the thick hanging coats in the way back. _Who is this psychopath?_ I ask myself silently as I hear her approaching closer._

"_You can't hide from me," the demon girl hisses, peeking through the crack in the door. All of a sudden, she rips the doors off their hinges as I make a desperate break for the front door. My sweaty hands claw frantically at the locks. There are about twenty of them, all sealed shut with weird lock combinations and latches and keys._

"_No, please," I beg. "Not now…please open…"_

"_Oh, Nessie," Demon coos from the kitchen. Her feet step across the shattered glass as she nears the door. I panic and decide to give up with the locks, making a break for the window._

"_You can't keep running!" she echoes, dashing after me._

_I make it to the back window in my old bedroom as a little girl, fling the latch open, and swing the windows open. Below me, the city is alive and moving quickly._

"_Nessie," Demon growls, approaching behind me._

_I turn hastily to find her jumping at me. I gasp and duck away from her, shielding my face with my hands. Then, everything goes black. _

"Nessie?! Nessie, where are you going; what are you doing???" a familiar voice cries, grabbing my shoulders.

"_Let go of me, Demon!_" I shout, clawing desperately at the large door knob on the big brass entryway to the orphanage.

"Nessie!" the girl hollers as I begin running down the slippery wet steps of the building. Rain dumps from the sky like a waterfall and splashes on the ground. When I reach the bottom of the steps, I try to run from the Demon but fly forward and splash in the mud. Water washes over me and the sloshing brown dirt cakes in my clothes and hair. My eyes snap open and I stare up into the black sky suddenly when I realize that I'm dreaming. Lily appears next to me, drops sliding down her face and drenching her clothes.

"W-where am I?" I stutter, running my hands through my knotted locks.

"We're outside in the rain," Lily whispers, her voice barely audible over the roar of the wind and downpour. "I think you were sleepwalking." She pauses and looks down at her feet, her soaked hair separating into drippy strings. "Ness, are you still mad at me?"

I blink a few times and squint through the sheets of rain to get a good glimpse at Lily's hard-to-read-expression. From my vague vision, I see a bit of sadness carved into her childlike features.

"Of course not," I say quietly.

"You called me a Demon," Lily murmurs.

I stare at the ground for a very long time before answering. "It wasn't you, Lily. I was dreaming. There was a demon girl in my dream…I'm sorry you misunderstood."

Lily nods. "It's alright. Hey, Ness, I'm sorry about before too."

I look up at her, the rain cutting into my eyes as it poured from the night atmosphere. "It's okay. I know you mean it. You wouldn't do it on purpose."

She sniffles and looks down at me, beads of rain sticking to the edges of her long eyelashes. "Your mom is still out there, Ness. She'll come and find you. She loves you." Lily sits down in the mud beside me and I place my head on her shoulder. "Your mom will come too, Lily. No one can just be left here."

"Yeah, they can. Like me," Lily says, hesitating at first, but then she continues bravely. "My mom Rena was the captain of the cheerleading squad in her senior year at high school. My dad Alex was the star quarterback on the varsity football team. After the championship game, they went to a friend's party and didn't know what they were in for. When Rena found out she was pregnant, she was angry at _me_. She didn't see how it was Alex's fault, even though it was way obvious, and she blamed everything on me.

"Alex wanted to help Rena after she started taking drugs to keep herself calm. He tried to tell her it was bad for me, but she wouldn't listen. She took a lot of pills every day to stay relaxed. Everyone tried to stop her, but then she ran away from home. I don't know where she went, but eventually Alex found her and threatened to call the police if she kept taking these pills, because she was killing his child. Rena didn't care; after I was born, she simply got up and left the hospital. Just like that. She left Alex there with a newborn baby and no clue how to raise a child. So Alex brought me here a few days later and that was that."

I sit there, shocked. I had no idea that Lily had such a sad story; she never mentioned anything about her parents. "How do you know all this?"

"Sister Rosemary told me, because she was here when I arrived ten years ago. Alex told her."

"Oh, Lily," I say softly. I wrap my arms around her. "I had no idea. Really, I didn't."

"It's okay," Lily sniffs. "Sister Rosemary just told me a few days ago."

"There's still hope," I promise weakly. "Alex sounds like he loves you. He must miss you."

Lily shakes her head. "He doesn't love me. He just didn't want to see Rena kill me because I was a human being. I was _his_ human being." She sighs and looks out into the dark swaying trees. "He didn't do anything. He just stood there and stared at me like I was an alien or something. And he panicked. He didn't want to be known as 'Alex the Daddy'. He still wanted to be 'Alex the Quarterback'. So he abandoned me. He didn't even try."

"Take it easy, Lil," I say quietly, trying hard not to upset her fragile emotions. "He was eighteen when this happened. He's still just a kid. Give 'em a break."

I flinch away, expecting Lily to backfire with some awful comment, but instead she remains motionless and says, "Yeah, you're right. Alex was just a kid." She shakes her head. "He's probably married by now, so he's never coming back."

"Think positive. I still think Bella will come. And Edward will come back and bring me home to Washington where Mom is." I inhale deeply, thinking about how wonderful life will be when I go home to Bella again…

"C'mon," Lily says, taking my hand and dragging me to my feet. "We better get inside before any of the nuns see us."

"Okay," I reply, grinning. I follow her inside, but my bare foot squishes something into the mud; a chain.

"Oh, no! Lily, my locket!!" I cry over the approaching thunder. I reach down and pick up the broken chain necklace of my golden locket. Tears well in my eyes as I stare at the dripping metal hopelessly. The picture of me and Bella is drenched in goopy mud. The man's face is still blurry.

"Lily, it's broken. No one can fix it now."

Lily guides me up the steps and through the brass doors. "We'll fix it in the morning, Ness. Right now we have to go to bed."

Then, I woke up.


	17. July 1, 2009

July 1, 2009~

Lily went back to sleep awhile ago, after washing most of the mud out of her skin and clothes. I did too, but now I cannot sleep at all. I stare blankly at the ceiling, the raindrops on the screen gathering in weird patterns across the glass. A sheer blue light glows from outside, and I am warm underneath my covers.

I try to count to sheep. Imagining little white fluffy things dancing across my vision, I counted carefully to myself. _One…two…three…four…five…six…seven…eight…nine…ten…eleven…twelve…thirteen…_

I decide to think in the mean time. I cannot believe Lily's story. Rena was eighteen…poor Alex. He must've been under a lot of stress. I wonder if Lily looks like them.

_Thirty-one…thirty-two…thirty-three…thirty-four…_

Is Alex married like she thought? For Lily's sake, I hope not. It'd be nice if Alex came back and took Lily home.

_Fifty-seven…fifty-eight…fifty-nine…sixty…sixty-one…_

Is my dad still alive? I have no idea. I can't remember much about him…

Is it ironic that Edward shares the same name as my father? Yep; totally. Maybe he is my father, even though he denied it. Maybe he and Bella are divorced and he's going to kidnap me or something. I hope not.

_Eighty-three…eighty-four…eighty-five…eighty-six…eighty-seven…eighty-eight…eighty-nine…ninety…_

My consciousness drifts and I slowly fade to sleep…

_The apartment is dark and hot. Very hot; like a sauna. I blink my eyes open and look around. I am lying on Bella's neatly made bed. Her sheets are warm from the temperature, and I wonder if it's hot in Seattle like this._

"_Bella," I call into the empty apartment. "Mom?"_

_There is no reply. Yet again, I am older; probably around fourteen or fifteen years old. I hear cars beeping and people shouting outside the living room window as I get up and walk to the front of the apartment._

"_Is anyone here?" I call out, expecting to get an 'I'm in the kitchen, honey' from Bella. But there is nothing._

_What if that demon girl pops out again? She'll kill me for sure if I don't get the hell outta here within the next three seconds. With that, I dash to the door and fling it open. But what I see is not what you'd expect to see in an apartment building…_

_There is mossy greenness everywhere I look. The air is still extremely hot, but this time it's humid too. It smells of rotting wood and musky water, like a swamp. I turn around, hoping to see the apartment, but all I see are more moss-and-vine-decorated trees and a filthy river. It rushes by me, its water brown with dirt and plants. _Oh, crap_, I think to myself and break out into a run through the woods._

There has to be a way out of here somewhere. It can't just go on forever_, I try to tell myself. I strain my ears to hear for any noises by cars or people in the swamp._

_Suddenly, the bushes behind me rustle ever so carefully. I whip around to see the demon girl standing there, her red eyes glinting in the dim light of the cloudy day._

"_Nessie," she coos. "So nice to see you again." I back up into a tree trunk and clench my hands into fists. "You wanna go?!" I warn, my voice sounding stronger than I feel. "Bring it!"_

_She cocks her head and clicks her tongue. "Oh, Nessie, you have so much to learn." With one fluid movement, Demon thrusts her leg forward in an attempt to trip me, but I grab it and throw her into the river. She splashes against the current, but quickly gets back up again; _too_ quickly. She races to me, but instead of cowering this time, I pull my lips back over my teeth in a snarl and leap at her, our hands interlocking. She tries to grab my neck, but I block her and grab hers instead. I shove Demon into a tree and dig my nails into her skin, but it is rock hard._

"_Nice try," she sings. "It's not going to work, no matter how hard you try."_

"_Who are you?" I growl, my voice venomous._

"_I am Jane, a member of the Volturi guard." She shakes her head again. "Oh wait, that's right, you have no clue." She smirks evilly. "I'm the reason you and your precious mother Bella had to live alone for so long. And then she had no choice but to bring you here to New York State." Jane shrugs. "Sorry, _Nessie_."_

_I feel my hands getting weak. This girl was the crazy murderer who was after me so many years ago._

"_What do you want?!" I roar. "How could you ruin my life like this?!"_

_Jane blinks. "I had to. Nessie, you're against the rules of our existence."  
"W-what are you talking about?" I stammer._

"_You know," she begins. "_Vampires_?"_

_I gulp and my breath comes in short, quick pants. Vampires? She's crazy. Absolutely mad. There's no such thing as vampires._

"_Sorry, but I have to do this," Jane snarls, and suddenly glares at me with those bloodred eyes. I am immersed in pain, feeling fire lick away my skin and my bones disintegrate. "Jane, _stop!!_" I cry. "STOP!"_

"_No," she growls. "I can never. I'm getting back at you for all that you've ever done to us."_

"_I haven't done anything!!" And then, I drop into the swampy river, the water burning my skin like the bubbling liquid of a hot tub…_

_I float unconscious downstream and land in stagnant water; a murky pond. Someone lifts me out, but I am not cold. The heat is even more sweltering out in the open air._

_She begins sobbing against me, holding me close to her as she strokes away my wet hair. "I'm sorry, Renesmee," she whispers._

_Bella._

I shoot upward out of my bed, about to scream, "Mom?!" but I restrain myself when I see the others sleeping.

I breathe in and out steadily, trying to convince myself that I was just dreaming. But then, the silk curtains sway ever so slightly from a sudden movement and a piece of neatly folded paper lands on the wooden floor.

I look both ways before getting out of bed, just to see if anyone else is awake, but the room remains silent. I tip-toe across the floor and kneel down to pick up the letter, sitting cross-legged in the silvery moonlight. The rain has stopped and now the night is clear.

I unfold the letter carefully, making sure not to rip the delicate paper, but what's inside startles me. I begin to read:

_Dearest Renesmee,  
__I'm sorry I had to part from you so suddenly, but it is something I must do. I promise I will be back soon to take you home to Forks where Bella awaits us. No matter what anyone says, you are safe here. Ignore the nightmares of Jane. She will not come to hurt you.  
__Renesmee, always have faith that you will be reunited with your family. Times may seem difficult, but life is unfair like that. Enjoy your locket, and I'll see you in a few weeks.  
__---Edward_

I stare blankly at the letter, not knowing how to react. How does Edward know about Jane? And my nightmares?! Everything is very confusing, but then I remember how he said to 'enjoy my locket'. What does that mean??

I reach up to my neck, expecting the locket to be gone, but instead it is there. I gasp in awe and look down at the clean shimmering gold. Slowly, my fingers peel it open to reveal the picture inside. I gasp in awe when I see the picture, because nothing is becoming any clearer now. _Is_ he my father? He was lying! But he could be my brother…but I don't have a brother!

There in the picture are three beautiful people, their white skin glowing pearl in the faint light. Bella has her arms around me, her smile brilliant against her red lips. The man that stands beside her has the same auburn hair as me…but this time, his face isn't blurred.

The man is Edward.

Then, I woke up.


	18. The In Between

10 years old

11 years old

12 years old

13 years old

14 years old

Time passed. Everything changed for me. Nothing happened throughout the years from when Edward said he'd come to save me to now. I just don't know why. What did I do? Nothing. Is there something wrong with me? Probably. Why would he lie? I don't know.

Is he my father? I hope not.


	19. July 2, 2009

July 2, 2009~

It has been months, no _years_, since I have seen and heard from the mysterious 'Edward' man who claimed he knew my mother. I was only ten, but now I am fourteen. The memories of my beloved mother are extremely vague. Yet, the tiniest things bring my memory back.

I still look back on the day that Edward came to me and talked to me about my mother. He promised me that in the future, everything would pull through and fate would find its way.

But it has been too long for that.

I lost my hope in Edward long ago, when school started the following year in fifth grade. There was still a little spark of hope inside of me telling me that Edward was still out there waiting to come and give me good news. Better yet, there was something telling me that my mother Bella was going to find me.

All hope dispersed when the orphanage checked for any sign of every girl's parents or family. Many girls were salvaged, but the Cullens could not be contacted. Even Alex was reached. He took Lily home, hugging her as Lily cried and held onto him tightly, but Violet and I had to stay.

That was in seventh grade, when I was thirteen. I knew Edward was never coming back and it was highly unlikely Bella would come, too. I plunged into a deep depression after that. I was completely inconsolable; not even Violet could cure me.

I didn't understand; why did Edward build my hope up just to knock it all down again? And why did he fix my damaged locket? How did he even get his hands on it?! My face flushes with anger just thinking about him.

And now, I walk through the dark, dreary hallways of the orphanage/now boarding school that once seemed friendly and welcoming. My bag is slung over my shoulder and wisps of bronze curls fall in my face. The impassive yet bitter expression I wear is always present. I haven't laughed, let alone smiled, in what seems like forever.

I pull the key out of my uniform skirt's pocket and fumble with the lock. I sigh deeply and push the door open. _Ugh_.

Pink wallpaper, pink beds, pink carpeting…it is a living nightmare. I grumble and trudge to my bed in the back corner of the room. It is plain food, not the cheap pink sparkly crap that my roommates have for their headboards. Plain white sheets, a bedside table and lamp, and a simple bookshelf is all I have and need.

Courtney, Jenny, and Sabrina became my new roommates after I was supposedly was noted as a "bad influence" on my cousin Violet. _Especially_ during my period of depression.

So they placed me with three girl-girl freaks with insanely bubbly personalities to try and lift my spirits. And…

It worked!

You're probably saying to yourself, "Really? She still sounds pretty miserable to me."

Well…I lied. If you doubted my enthusiasm, then you were correct. If you didn't, then go see a doctor.

Just kidding; but you know what I mean.

Anyway, Courtney and Sabrina are sprawled across their beds, talking on bright neon pink cell phones. Jenny isn't here, and I'm not surprised. She always lingers outside in case any "hot farmer boys" came passing by on the old country road.

Now, I know orphans do _not_ have cell phones. Well, the orphanage was going bankrupt with all the recent adoptions and such. To prevent any further loss of money, the headmaster decided to turn it into a boarding school. So really, my roommates are just rich snobs sent here because their daddies care _so much_ about them.

I sigh and plop on my bed, staring up at the white ceiling. _At least they _have_ daddies, _I think to myself sadly. What I would do to meet my real father…

"_Mommy?" a little girl chirps with my bronze curls at waist-length, innocent brown eyes, and ivory skin. She crawls silently into what looks like an apartment living room. A familiar woman, I immediately recognize as the woman from all my other flashbacks, turns away from the book she is reading. "Yes, Renesmee?"_

_Renesmee: the little girl is me. The woman is my mother Bella._

_I curl up into Bella's lap on the couch and says quietly, "Will I ever see Daddy again?"_

_Bella sighs. "Maybe."_

"_What if I forget him?"_

"_Well…memories fade. Hopefully you'll have a little piece of him if you never do see him again."_

"_I remember what he looks like, but I sort of forget his voice."_

_That made Bella sad. "He had a beautiful voice—soothing and smooth like velvet. You look so much like him. Sometimes it makes me sad to remember him."_

_There is a long pause. Then I put my hands over my face. "Is this better? Now you won't be sad."_

_Bella laughs. "Oh no; at the same time I love seeing him in you. It makes me more happy than sad."_

"_Okay," I giggle and take my hands down. *flashback ends* _Then, I think of _his_ face in my locket with Bella and me…

"Nessie?!" Sabrina snaps. "_HELLO_?!!"

I blink out of my daze and stare up angrily at her and Courtney.

"What are you, like, _dead_?!" she shouts.

"Yeah, I'm dead; that's exactly why I'm talking," I snort.

Courtney rolls her eyes. "Whatever, Nessie. You know your behavior kinda creeps me out."

"Ugh. That makes two of us," Sabrina scoffs and they glare down at me. "Well I'd be depressed too if I was named after the Loch Ness Monster.

That does it. I stand up and snap, "_Nessie_ is not my real name. My real name is _Renesmee_."

Sabrina wrinkles her nose. "Stupid name alert!"

Anger boils inside me and my face turns bright red. "How dare you say that! I was named after my grandmothers! My _mother_ gave me this name!"

"Big whoop," Courtney says.

"I haven't seen my mother since I was FOUR YEARS OLD! And I can never go back because God-knows-what was after me!" I choke back the tears that blur my vision. "I don't even know if she's alive!"

"Oh, cry me a river, build a bridge, and _get over it_ already!" Courtney storms. "All you have to do is open your stupid little locket and see her."

"It's more complicated than that, trust me! But you would never know because you've never been ORPHANED!!"

Suddenly, I feel a tugging behind my neck. Then, the locket slips away. I whip around to see Sabrina standing there with the golden locket in her hand.

"GIVE IT TO ME!!" I order.

"Whoops," Sabrina mutters. "I broke it. But…oooh, your dad's _sexy_."

"_Bitch_!!' I shout. "Edward fixed that for me!"

"Too bad," Courtney says smirking.

I don't think twice about my next movement. My fist swings around and rams right into her face. Her nose makes an unpleasant crunching sound and blood spurts out. She screams so loud that the room shakes.

"What the hell is your problem?!" Sabrina shrieks. I jump at her, sending the locket flying onto the floor. But Sabrina is a whole lot tougher than Courtney. Our hands lock and we both push each other, struggling to weaken the other. She throws a punch at my face, and I neatly dodge it. I grab her as she stumbles forward and smash her against the wall. My bookshelf breaks and the books slide down onto the floor. She socks me right in the mouth and I immediately taste blood. Then Sabrina kicks me in the stomach and sends me crashing into the desk. The wood splinters and breaks, stabbing through my skin and tearing my shirt.

I stand up, but pain rips through me. Blood gushes out of the wounds and down my back, but I push onward. Sabrina is on her bed, her eyes wild and her hair tangled.

My head is spinning and the world is slipping from beneath me. My breath arrives in short pants.

"Not so brave anymore, are we _Cullen_?" Sabrina sneers.

"That's what you think," I growl and leap at her with every last ounce of strength I have.

Sabrina screams, and the next thing I know, my teeth are sunken into her arm. I bite down and rip away, the blood filling my mouth. It gushes down her arm as she cries out in pain. I fall off the bed and land on the floor with a _thud_. My vision shakes and blurs, but I have enough time to see Jenny standing there with Sister Fiona and the headmaster. A bunch of other girls are behind them, gasping in awe. One girl in particular catches my eye: Violet.

Tears are rolling down her ashen cheeks and she trembles with fear. Then, blackness.

Part II:  
I open my eyes to reveal a hospital room glowing white with its cleanliness. I turn and find the headmaster sitting there with a worried-looking Sister Fiona. The headmaster does not look worried at all, though. It looks as if he's going to combust and explode.

"Miss Cullen," he spits bitterly. "What in God's name were you thinking?!"

I don't say anything.

"You _bit_ Sabrina!!"

Still, nothing.

"You are _not_ an animal," he snaps. "Therefore, we can no longer afford to have such a savage..._hooligan_ at our school. You cannot attend St. Scholastica's anymore due to your despicable behavior. Your bags are already packed, so there's no need to fret."

Now I decide to speak. "But I'm not here to attend the school! I'm here because I'm an orphan!! I have no place to go." I pause. "It was an orphanage before it was this stupid, snobby, stuck-up school."

The headmaster shakes with anger, but restrains himself from strangling me. "Two men have agreed to take you as a housekeeper for the summer," he says, adjusting his ugly checkered tie.

"Are they gay?" I mutter under my breath.

"MISS CULLEN!!" the headmaster thunders. He glares at me in disapproval and. Sister Fiona just looks at her feet.

I snicker evilly.

"They are brothers," he tells me. "They are young and single, so you won't have to worry about managing children."

Great. This immediately sounds like a recipe for disaster.

"In the mean time," the headmaster continues, "you will be sent to a fun dance camp for a few days to recuperate."

_Dance?_ Is this some sort of joke???? "Um, I don't dance, sir," I breathe.

"Nonsense," he growls. "It was either this or the New York Center for Juvenile Delinquents and I will _not_ have one of St. Scholastica's students sitting with a tattooed thirteen-year-old for the next few years." His face suddenly turns bitter again.

"Why didn't you let me choose?" I ask innocently, but the headmaster gives me a look that scares the living crap outta me.

"You will go in the morning. When your few days are up, you and your new _parole officer_ will return here and your new _owners_ will take you to your new _home_." And with that, the headmaster gets up and leaves the room in a huff.

"_Parole OFFICER_?!" I shout.

"Renesmee," Sister Fiona begins, her Spanish accent very thick. "You cannot be trusted by the 'public'. You need a parole officer to monitor you."

I sigh and look up at the tiled ceiling in despair.

"I don't understand," Sister Fiona goes on. "You used to be so charismatic and cheerful." She pauses. "That man...the one who came four years ago—did he do something to you? Did he hurt you in any way?"

"He...he said he knew my mother—Bella." My voice cracks on the last word.

Sister Fiona bites her lip.

"He said that he would come back and bring me home to Bella. But when the orphans' family members were contacted a few years ago, I lost hope in Edward because Violet and I were told we had to stay." I don't realize I am crying lightly until Sister Fiona puts her hand on top of mine and says softly, "Do not cry, brave one." Then, a flashback: _a tall, pale girl with pin straight black hair and spring green irises standing before me in a misty football field. "Hello, brave ones," she whispers, her perfect voice flowing like the smooth notes of a piano._

_*flashback ends*_

"I'm not brave," I sniffle. "I'm a coward. I bit a girl because she broke my locket."

Sister Fiona breathes in deeply.

"Wait, my locket!" I suddenly remember. "Where is it?"  
The nun pulls the golden oval out of her jacket pocket. It hangs on a measly bit of string, but I take it with much gratitude and hug it to my heart.

"The headmaster wanted to get rid of it," Sister Fiona explains. "But persuaded him to let me give it to you."

For the first time in years, I open my locket and look inside at the beautiful picture of my mother and me...and strangely, Edward.

"I didn't open it," she says quickly. "I didn't know if it was too personal..."

"Here," I say, smiling. "You can see it. I want you to."

Sister Fiona takes it and studies the picture. "_Plus que ma propre vie_," she recites in perfect French. "_More than my own life_."

I nod.

"Your mother is beautiful," she observes, awestruck. "And so are you. And the man is..." Suddenly she pauses. "Edward." Her large dark brown eyes lock with mine. "The man who came four years ago...he's your father? He is in this picture."

I shake my head. "I'm not sure. Four years ago, when he left, he fixed the broken chain. It was the first time I'd seen him in the picture. Before that, the man's face was blurred. And, I would have flashbacks of my father, too. His face was always blurry, until I met Edward."

Sister Fiona cocks her head in fascination. "I've never heard of that before. The human mind is strange, the way it works sometimes, isn't it?"

I yawn and nod.

"You should get some rest," Sister Fiona says, stroking my matted curls.

"Yes," I agree, closing my eyes.

"Goodbye," Sister Fiona whispers.

"Take care of Violet for me...please."

Part III:  
A cab comes and picks the parole officer and me up in the morning. It takes us to some big obnoxious arena in New Jersey called the IZOD Center. A woman leads us deep into the bowels of this place, were the Nets dancers are practicing in the basement. When we get down there, it is probably the most awkward thing I have ever experienced.

A bunch of tall pretty girls are lined up in front of about thirty-something girls who look about my age. My parole officer, Angelo, checks me in with the director Natalie.

"Have fun, Renesmee," he chirps. "I'll see you in tonight's performance!"

"It's _Nessie_," I hiss. As he walks away, I mumble, "And no you will not."

I decide to go with the tomboy, don't-mess-with-me-or-I'll-kick-your-ass type. I am wearing a backwards baseball cap, loose cargo pants, and basically my only shirt—the bloody, ripped one that Sabrina destroyed. With all that, a lovely touch is the creepy gauze wrapped around my right hand. I am required to wear it after the desk's wood sliced through my palm. The best part is, I still have a bunch of jagged scars everywhere.

Everyone gives me strange stares as I walk into the line next to a familiar-looking girl with curly brown and large brown eyes the same color as mine. She watches me carefully, but I turn and snap, "What're you lookin' at, punk?"

She turns right away and the music starts up again. I can't dance to save my life, so I spend the majority of the time stomping around like a bull in a china shop.

Then, break-time comes. It is 6:00 p.m. and performance is in a' half-hour. Joy.

Natalie strides up to me after practice and glares at me. "What do you want?" I ask, taking a swig of my water.

"Just listen, kid," she warns. "If you think this dance camp is some kind of practical joke, then you are sure as hell wrong. So shape up for that performance or else I'll have a little word with that parole officer of yours."

This lady thinks she scares me, but in all reality, Elmo can scare me more.

"There are talent scouts coming," she babbles on. When she is finally finished, she says, "You got, Renee?"

I choose not to correct her with my name. "Yeah, whatever lady," I growl. I don't even turn around to see the outraged look on her big ugly face. She won't have to worry about tonight; I've already planned my escape.

I sit down against one of the large steel pillars and rummage through my bag. A small MP3 player ends up in my hand; the one Angelo gave me to kill spare time. I put in the headphones and shuffle the music, but to my great displeasure, all that comes out is some Mr. Feelings guy telling me it's okay to be angry.

"What is this crap?!" I wonder aloud, and scroll through the list of songs: Mr. Albert & Being Angry, Mr. Albert & Showing Emotion, Mr. Albert & Getting a Root Canal...where the hell is the music??  
I growl and coil my fingers around the tiny MP3 player, feeling it crumble under my ivory fingers. The screen cracks and it sprinkles to the floor in a feeble blue dust.

Now, I am just as amazed as everyone else, because I do not remember possessing superhuman strength. About seven other girls are staring at me in shock. One girl drops her opened water bottle, and it spills all over the floor.

"That's right," I say, nodding. "I just destroyed that iPod with my bare hand."

The familiar girl with curly hair who was standing next to me in the dance gallops to me and plops down on the cool floor. "Hi," she greets me, smiling. "I'm Tina. What's your name?" Then, a flashback: _Tina is standing in a classroom with a plaid skirt and white golf shirt. I am in a desk, in the same ridiculous uniform, except with...blonde hair??!!_

"_My name is Valentina," Tina says giggling. "And my hobby is dancing."_

_*flashback ends*_

"Um, my name is Nessie," I stutter, suddenly sounding not so tough anymore.

"Nessie? That's a cool name. Is it short for something?"

"Yeah. Renesmee is my real name."

Tina beams. "My real name is Valentina."

I smile weakly.

"So, are you excited for our first performance tonight?" she asks.

I shift uncomfortably. "Actually, I don't plan on staying. I am considering escape."

"Oooh," Tina says. "I won't tell the Nets dancers. Or Miss Natalie on that note."

"Yeah," I sigh. "She really hates me already. I don't blame her though; I can't dance to save my life."

"Aw, don't say that."

"Ah, but it's true."

"Then, if you don't mind me asking, why are you here?"

I pause and look at the ground.

"I'm sorry if it's too personal. But...I won't tell anyone."

"It's complicated," I begin. "Basically, I got in trouble at my, er, school...and instead of juvy they sent me here."

"Wow. Enough trouble to go to juvy?" Tina asks, her eyes widening.

"Um, yeah," I mumble. I glance up at the clock on the wall and say, "I gotta jet. If Natalie asks, don't tell her where I am, _please_."

"No problem," Tina says. "And...good luck!"

I don't take a second look back. I race down the halls and through the tunnels all while following the 'exit' signs marked in glowing red letters.

I take a left and power-walk through the tunnel, when suddenly I notice someone: a tall, lean figure with chalky white skin and bronze hair. His hands are in his jeans pockets, and he is wearing a black t-shirt and Converse sneakers.

Oh, damn.

"You!" I shout through clenched teeth. I storm toward him.

"Who, me?" Edward asks playfully. He does the crooked smile thing and I look away.

"Sorry," he says. "I didn't mean to dazzle you."

I wrinkle my nose and thrust a mighty punch at him, but he catches my fist and says, "I don't think that would be such a bright idea."

"Why not?!" I hiss. "Besides, you left me at an orphanage saying that one day soon you'd come back and take me to my mother!"

"I'm here, aren't I?"

"Four years...I waited for you for FOUR YEARS!"

"Well then now you can just come with me and I'll bring you home."

I am wild with anger. "It's not as simple as that!"

"Why?" he asks, suddenly becoming serious. "Haven't you ever heard of 'forgive and forget'?"

I laugh bitterly. "That's another story, Ed_weird_."

He narrows his eyes at me.

"I was depressed. I couldn't eat or sleep or do ANYTHING! How could I forget the worst years of my young life??"  
"Because those days are in the past! If you keep thinking about it, you'll never get any better. You'll only get worse."

"I don't care if I get worse. Actually, I don't think it's physically _possible_ to get worse than I am."

Edward's expression was sour. "You act like your life is damn miserable!"

"Because it IS!"

"Oh yeah?" He bends down to my height.

"Try me," I growl.

Edward grimaces. "I'm sorry I couldn't come earlier. I had to help Bella! She would've died!!"

"You lie!" I shout theatrically.

"Fine. Don't believe me. I don't care."

"Good. I'm leaving." I begin to walk past him put he grabs my arm and wrenches me back.

"You're not going anywhere, young lady."

"What are you, my father?! Leave me alone, creep!" I try to slip away from his grip, but Edward is too strong. "_Get away!_"

"Renesmee, listen to me! You're going to be in danger if you leave."

"The only danger I'm in is going with you! How do I know you're not like a rapist or something?!"

"Because you just have to trust me," Edward pleads. "Please, Renesmee."

"_NO!!!_" I holler and suddenly break into a sprint through the tunnels. Edward chases after me, and he is very fast. So fast, that he's almost a blur. I break through the wooden doors temporarily put there for construction and collapse in the evening sun. The cars from the highway rush by and the sound of trucks and rocks crumbling are from the construction site across the road. I turn, but Edward isn't there. _Where the hell did that freak go?_ I wonder to myself. I shrug and keep walking, back to the hospital where my bags are and where my new job awaits.

Then, I woke up.


	20. July 3, 2009

July 3, 2009~

The night is dark and unforgiving by the time I reach the hospital where all my possessions are. The parking lot is eerily empty and one of the streetlights flashes and blacks out. I shiver and walk faster toward the huge building just as a silver Volvo pulls up into the parking lot. _It's probably just one of the nightshift doctors_, I try to convince myself as I jog up the steps and open the big glass door.

Inside, the receptionist desk is empty. "Stupid people get paid for doin' nothing," I grumble to myself as I press the button for the elevator and get in. It's empty in there too.

"Where is everyone?" I ask the specks of dust floating by me in the tiny space. There are no sounds; you could hear a pin drop. Oh wait.

No one's around to drop the pin.

The elevator opens to the thirteenth floor where my room is and I walk out. The corridor lights are still a bright white, even though I have no idea who would turn them on.

I turn into my room and see the bed that I once inhabited a day ago, and the bench where Sister Fiona and the headmaster were sitting. Everything is the same...except there are no sources of life!

Suddenly I begin to wish that I had gone with Edward. He was right; I would run into some sort of danger...and here looks like the perfect place for that.

"Edward?" I call out weakly. _No_, my mind commands. _If you come crawling back to him now he'll think you're a coward. Stick it out, Nessie!_

"Yeah," I mutter. "And you're just the little voice in my mind that bosses me around. Nothing can happen to you 'cause you're all safe in there." I let out a short chuckle. "Well, not if I get a blow to the head. Then you're screwed."

_Shut up!_ the voice orders angrily. _I can hear someone coming!_

"What do I do?!"  
_Hide!_ I begin to panic and duck behind the bed, keeping my hands over my head and minimizing myself by curling up into a little ball.

"No, sir, she's not in here," a hear a formal voice saying.

"Goddamn that girl, where the hell is she?" thunders a familiar man—oh crap!  
Angelo!

I tremble violently as the doctor leads a furious Angelo into the room. _Please don't find me, please don't find me_, I beg silently. _Ooooh, please..._I wedge myself further behind the bed, eventually squeezing under the little table and hiding myself with the table cloth.

"Sir, I don't see the problem here. She's just a fourteen year old," the doctor says.

"The kid freakin' bit her roommate! She must think she's like some vampire or something. Probably watches that _True Blood_ show or something," Angelo snorts. "You know teenagers and their obsessions."

There was that word again: _vampire. _It isn't the first time I've heard it. Jane told me about them in my dream...or she more so told me that I was upsetting "their" existence. I shake the thought away, but the cloth goes with my sudden movement. The flower pot on top rattles and falls off the edge, crashing onto the floor with a *shatter* from the ceramic piece breaking.

"Oh shit!" I whisper, just loud enough for myself to hear, but apparently Angelo had already gotten there before I could fit in those last few words. He yanks the cloth off the table and looks straight at me, his eyes like fire.

"Hi, Angelo," I choke. I grab a flower off the floor and hold it up to him. "Daisy?"

His giant hands are like claws as he glares at me. "_RENESMEE CARLIE CULLEN!!!!!!!_" he bellows ferociously.

"Hey, you know my middle name. That's cool," I whisper, my voice barely audible.

Angelo doesn't say anything. He just stands there, breathing heavily from getting all of that nasty anger out. His fists are clenched like he's about to wale me right in the gut.

"How was the performance? Did ya see Valentina?"

He still doesn't say anything, he just grabs me by the collar and pulls me up off the ground, putting my face up to his. "Don't you ever try to pull that stunt again!" he hollers, some of his spit flying onto my face.

I'm already in enough trouble, but I want to see if I can push poor ol' Angelo over the edge just a little farther. "Whew, you seriously need a Tic-Tac, dude." I wipe a drop of imaginary spit off my cheek. "And learn to say it, not spray it."

Angelo throws me onto the floor and picks his foot up, about to stomp on me (and probably crush me to death because he's so fat). I roll under the bed just as his big meaty foot smashes onto the floor. For a second, Angelo's feet are gone off the ground, but then I realize that he's airborne.

"Holy crap!" I holler and roll out the other side of the bed, getting onto my feet just at the bed collapses and breaks from Angelo's weight, dust flying up everywhere.

"'Scuse me!" I say, just as I scoot past the doctor and out the door. I dash down the stairs, slinging my bag over my shoulder and grasping the locket that hangs around my neck on the string. "You never do fail me," I tell the golden oval proudly.

I hurry through the lobby and out the large doors, the moon lingering in the night sky. The Volvo is still parked in the same spot, so it's probably Angelo's. Another car, a huge black Escalade, idles on the curb of the highway. A man gets out and begins walking toward me, so I turn and try to run away, my heart racing.

"Hey, wait!" the man calls. Is it Edward? Oh, God, I hope not. "Hey you!"

I try to pry open the doors but they are locked. "_Hey! Hey! Please, open up in there!!_" I shout, banging on the glass doors frantically with my hands. "_Please, open up! It's an emergency!_"

I can hear the man approaching behind me, and before I know it he's right there next to me. I pound harder, panting and wheezing as I try to pull the door open. "Oh, please, pleeeeeease," I beg, crying hopelessly. "Not now! No, please."

"Hey, kid, you alright? You look and sound as if you just saw a vampire," he says, his Brooklyn accent thick in his husky voice.

My bottom lip quivers. "Stop saying that word!"

"Vampires?"

"Yes," I break down, holding my head in my hands. "Please, stop. I can't take it anymore. What is with the world and those creatures?!"

The man bites his lip and stares at me, thoroughly confused. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I didn't mean to, uh, upset you in such a way." He kneads his hands, until he finally says, "Do you, uh, know a Renee Cullen by any chance? I think she was supposed to be here. I'm gonna take her home with my brother and I 'cause, uh, she's our new housekeeper."

I sniffle and peer up at him. "Renesmee Cullen? That's me."

His eyes widen and he looks behind him, giving the other man the car a thumbs up. "Well, uh, I'm Victor and my brother is Xavier."

"Nice to meet you," I manage. "Call me Nessie. It's easier than Renesmee."

Victor smiles slyly. "Okay, well let's go. Time's a-wasting."

And with that, I follow Victor to the waiting car and climb into the backseat.

Part II:

Victor is a short, dark-skinned man of about age twenty-seven. He has curly dark hair and a tan skin, but he's always involved in work. Xavier on the other hand is twenty-four years old. He has that swish haircut with sandy brown hair and deep brown eyes. His voice is young and innocent, but he's very clever.

A few days have passed...

I wake up in the morning to a dim, cloudy day. The bed sheets are warm and soft, and I don't want to get out, but I have to work. I go downstairs and find Xavier sitting there reading the newspaper.

I yawn and clean up his empty plate. "Where's Mr. Victor?"

Xavier puts the newspaper down. "He's at work. And, I'm going to be working too. But I'm upstairs so you won't be alone here." He pauses. "You have nothing to work on, so you can just relax for a few hours."

I shrug. "Thank you, Mr. Xavier. I'll be in the den." I skip out of the kitchen and into the room where the television is. I sit down at turn on the TV, not really paying attention to what is on. But suddenly, I feel two hands massaging my shoulders. I jump and turn around. Xavier is standing there, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "I'm sorry, did I startle you, love?"

I wrinkle my nose. "E-excuse me, sir?"

Xavier places his hand under my chin and winks. "It's just you and me. I knew you were the one the first second I saw you."

"Mr. Xavier, I am purely your housekeeper and that's it. I...I..."

"Oh, why not?" he asks, his smooth voice like a serpent's. He tackles me onto the couch and starts kissing me violently.

"Mr...Xavier," I huff through labored breaths. "Sir...this isn't...right!"

"Who cares what's right?" he says, pulling down my shirt with his strong hands. "I'm in love, Nessie."

I scream. "_Mr. Xavier, please let go!!_" His hand grabs my neck as he forces my lips to his. "One night...could never be wrong," he whispers, his breath hot.

I push him away forcefully and leap off the couch, running for my life through the mansion's halls. I throw open the bathroom door and shut it with a loud bang, locking it and hiding in the bathtub, sobbing hysterically.

"_I'm sorry, Edward!_" I cry. "_I'm sorry I didn't listen to you when I should have! I'm sorry!!_"

"Nessie," a voice coos, as a sharp steak knife cuts through the wooden door. An awful shredding noise comes with each stab that Xavier throws.

"_PLEASE!_" I holler, banging on the window. "_Edward, HELP!!_"

"Who's Edward?" Xavier asks offensively, his face appearing in the opening that he carved. The knife he is holding is still jabbed in the door.

I let out a bloodcurdling shriek and begin climbing the tiled wall up to the window.

"Love hurts, Nessie," Xavier growls, running after me after he broke down the door. "That's something you'll have to learn the hard way." He throws the knife at me, and it just misses my neck. It snags my shirt sleeve and I hang there, terrified, clawing at the window a few feet away.

"_EDWARD!!!!_" I scream desperately. "_PLEASE!!!_"

"You _will_ grow to love me," Xavier threatens, pulling a gun out of his pocket. He aims it right at me and gets ready to pull the trigger just as the window above me shatters and a possessed bird crash-lands on the floor.

"What the hell?!" Xavier cries just as the dust disperses and the bird begins standing up.

Wait...that's no bird. It's _Edward_!

"Who are you?" Xavier stammers, his eyes suddenly full of fear and misunderstanding.

"That's not important," Edward growls, his voice menacing. "Now you leave this girl alone."

"Who are you to tell me that? She's my girlfriend," he lies.

Edward strolls toward him coolly. "And I suppose you were trying to kill her?"

Xavier gulps, and pulls his gun out. "I'll shoot her," he snarls, aiming the gun at me again. "I don't care. I'll kill her. She's hanging there like a pinata full of candy."

"Hurt her, and I'll kill _you_," Edward threatens darkly.

Xavier begins trembling, and suddenly pulls back the trigger. Edward is too fast, though. He leaps in front of me just as he yanks the knife off my shirt and I fall into the bathtub with a *thud*. "EDWARD, NO!!!" I cry, but it is too late. The gun shot rings throughout the room and Edward collapses onto the floor.

"_Oh God_," I moan, crawling toward him. "Please, please be alive..." I'm screwed now.

Xavier grins and walks toward us, staring down at Edward's body in amazement.

But to my pleasure, Edward turns on his back and stares up at me, a grin playing at his lips. His golden eyes sparkle with fascination as I reach out to touch his cheek.

"You—you're alive!" I rejoice.

"Why wouldn't I be?" He winks and rolls onto his feet, holding the little silver bullet in his ivory hand. "Ah, Ness. Now would you look at that?"

I smile. "Yep."

"Wait," Xavier stutters. "That's not supposed to happen. You're supposed to be dead!" He points to Edward, his hand shaking.

"We all like to imagine things," Edward begins, sauntering toward Xavier. "And now is just your time to do so. So keep on imagining, because Renesmee's coming with me."

Xavier breaks into a run, hollering and screaming with horror as Edward takes my hand and examines my injured shoulder from where the knife gently grazed it. A few drops of blood drip down my arm, but Edward washes it away with some sink water.

"I'm fine," I say, looking into his deep topaz irises as he smooths the skin on my cheek with his thumb.

"Don't scare me like that. Ever," Edward replies. "Bella will skin me alive when she finds out what happened." My heart thumps excitedly at his words. I'm going to see Bella!!

"Come on," Edward says, grasping my hand with his ice cold one. "Let's get out of here."

Then, I woke up.


	21. July 4, 2009

July 4, 2009~

Edward pulls the Volvo into the parking lot of a McDonald's somewhere in the countryside of New York. I am sleeping in the front seat until Edward taps me on the shoulder and I jolt awake. "_I'm innocent_!!" I shout, my eyes snapping open, and he gives me a puzzled look.

"Sorry," I mutter. "Bad dream."

Edward nods. "Out we go. We're only a few miles away from that lake town where the orphanage is. But I want you to eat something."

I agree immediately, for my stomach is growling angrily at me due to lack of food. I haven't eaten ever since the dinner I had the night before I was almost raped and murdered by my former 'master', Xavier. Edward opens the passenger door for me, and I climb out hesitantly, more alert to my surroundings and the other people, that is.

"What time is it?" I ask, yawning.

"It's six thirty," Edward replies, not even glancing at his watch. "Dinner time for the average human."

Immediately, I am a little weird-ed out again by his response. What was _that_ supposed to mean? I choose not to say anything and follow him into the fast food restaurant, sitting down at a table when he asks me what I want.

"A cheeseburger is fine," I say. "That's all. And a bottled water."

"Okay." He nods and goes to wait on line as I scoot further into the booth, hugging my knees to my chest. As Edward waits on line, I look after him, outlining his perfect figure and taking in all of his features. I think back to when Sister Fiona asked if he was my father; even when _I_ considered he was my father. Let's see: the bronze hair and pale skin are two immediate resemblances. But Bella had the same pale skin as me, too. The eyes are golden topaz like Bella's, but I inherited from her when her eyes were a warm milk chocolate.

Besides appearance, what else is similar? I know I have my curls from my grandfather on Bella's side. My height is just plain abnormal, because I am very small for a fourteen year old; Bella was never short, but Edward isn't either…what about personality? I cannot remember my father's personality, but Bella was warm and welcoming. She was kind and never thought for herself…she always wanted the best for me…

I pull my knees closer to my chest and fight back the tears in remembering Bella. I have to stop crying all the time when I think about her! It's childish and immature. _Pull yourself together_, I growl at myself, _you're being a baby_.

Then Edward returns holding the tray of food. His facial expression tells me that he is repulsed by the greasy food, and he almost sets it in front of me too hard. A few of the French fries scatter on my skirt, but I quickly scoop them up and dump them back on the tray. Edward watches all of this while sitting in the booth across from me, a look of disgust chiseled into his face.

I hold out a fry to him. "Want one?"

"Er, no thanks," he barely manages.

"Aw, c'mon, you bought it for me. Just have one," I insist.

"No thanks."

"Edward."

"I'm on a diet. Greasy foods are unacceptable!"

I glare at him long and hard. Anyone in their right minds would accept ONE French fry even if they were on a diet. Here he goes again with that weird behavior!

"What's your deal?" I hiss. "You save me and now you look at me like I'm freakin' four years old or something."

Edward shakes his head. "No, no, I know you're not four years old…"

"Then stop glaring at me like that!" I practically shout.

He narrows his eyes at me and frowns. "That man could've harmed you back there. I _saved_ you, remember?"

"Xavier," I grumble, rolling my eyes and forcing down my cheeseburger as the horrible memories haunt me.

Edward sighs. "You _are_ very appealing, though." He grins and shifts in his seat. "Bella is a beautiful woman…"

A growl slips between my lips. "She's married, you know."

He looks deep into my eyes, his eyebrows knitting together in concern. "_Is_ she?" he asks, his voice rolling out in a soft tone.

I bite my lip and try to hide my puzzlement. "She is. I know she is," I say defiantly. "She's a very pretty woman; of course she's married…" I continue, my voice getting stronger. "Why do you care anyway? What, do you secretly love her from high school still, or something?"

Edward glares at me coldly. "What if even _after_ you were gone she was depressed? She didn't speak for months, _years_ even. We told her to ignore the danger and find you if it was killing her, but she didn't want Jane to find you. She would see you in everything she did: in the woods she would find your favorite flowers and cry. In the town, she would see the park swings and think of you. When we went to Seattle, she _refused_ to because it was where she lived with you! Everything about her made me upset! It made _her husband_, your FATHER, depressed and angry to see her like this." Edward pauses and looks down at the floor. "She was beautiful before you left, but in a way that made everything else around her beautiful, too. When she was sad, she was still beautiful, but she made everything around her seem wilted and dying. She wouldn't listen to us. Wouldn't…listen…" His stone hand is gently brushing my cheek when our eyes meet and a set of flashbacks surge through me: _a wide open house with windows on every wall and white ceilings and floors. I look around, again only a little girl as I was in my dreams from before. A bunch of taller people bustle around me, grabbing suitcases and coats and heading toward the door. They all speak in hushed, melodic whispers as a boy picks me up and holds me to his chest. His russet skin is hot against mine as I press my hand against his neck. He nods and smiles, but a tear trickles down his cheek._

"_Don't worry, Jacob," I whisper. "I'll be back soon. I'm just goin' away for a little while."_

_Jacob, the same boy who helped deliver Bella's baby, replies, "Of course. A little while is all." A few more tears run down his tan skin and I wipe them away with my thumb, giggling. "Silly Jake, don't get all wet!"_

_His lip quivers as he kisses me on the forehead and hands me over to another man behind us. "Here," he mutters, his voice choked. "Take her. I can't bear to look anymore."_

"_Jakey?" I ask, my voice going shrill. "Jacob? Where are you going?"_

_He turns to me and his eyes are rimmed in red. "'Bye, Nessie. Be good for Mommy…please."_

_I whip around to face the man who is holding me. "What is he talking about, Daddy?" My own words startle me, though, but only because the man is _Edward_. He doesn't answer, his rigid chiseled jaw remaining tight. _

"_Goodbye, Edward. I love you, remember that," a woman says, kissing Edward gingerly and then taking me from him. Her arms are strong, but her skin is smooth and marble-like._

"_Goodbye, Renesmee. Goodbye, Bella, love," he says as the woman carries me toward the door. I think it is Bella. I clasp my hands around her neck and wave goodbye to the familiar pale faces all watching me leave. Bella lithely dances down the porch steps and up to a red Ferrari F430. "Here, sweetie," she says, brushing the loose strands of hair away from her ashen face as she puts me into a car seat and buckles me in. Then she handed me a thick chapter book to read. The title was _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone_._

_Bella climbs into the front seat and buckles herself in, gripping the steering wheel as she makes a U-turn in the gravel driveway and speeds down the barren road that rips through the Washington rainforest._

"_Mommy, where are we going?" I ask, my eyes scanning the copyright page in the front of the book._

"_We're moving to Seattle for a little while," she chokes, her voice cracking flatly. Out of the blue, a huge russet wolf bounds out in front of the car and slithers across the road into the wet trees._

"Jesus Christ!_" Bella shouts, slamming her foot onto the pedal and scooting to a stop. The car hisses and roars as it idles in the middle of the road._

"_Mommy," I say. "Was that Jake the wolf?"_

"_Yes," Bella replies, her voice shaking. "That was Jake the wolf." Suddenly she bursts into dry, tearless sobs and starts driving again. Her wails of sadness echo throughout my ears the entire way to Seattle, her sniffles and cries clouding my thoughts. _Why are we doing this if it makes her sad?_ I think to myself, reading innocently in my head about Harry and Hermione and Ron…_

_*flashback ends*_

I pull away from Edward and storm out of the restaurant, tears blurring my vision as I begin to walk toward the empty highway. He appears next to me and grabs my arm, pulling me back.

"What are you doing?!" he demands.

"I'm leaving!" I holler. "You make me…me…ANGRY!"

"About what??"

I suddenly fall over and curl up into a little ball. "You make me think about my mom, and I get angry when I think about that! UGH!!!" I start to cry hysterically, not caring that a bunch of tourists coming out of McDonald's are staring with fear.

"I'm sorry," Edward whispers and lifts me over to the Volvo, my head tucked under his marble neck. "We're gonna get Violet and go back to Forks to see Bella. You won't be sad anymore, I promise."

"H-how can you p-promise me that?" I stutter as Edward puts me into the back seat and drapes a blanket over my shoulders.

"Shh, shh," he coos, stroking my curls with his cold hand. "It's gonna be alright. I promise you, it will _alright_." He sounds like he is assuring himself more than me.

Part II:

Edward's voice is smooth and serpent-like as I hear him opening the car door and coaxing me to wake up. "Nessie...Nessie...wake up, Renesmee."

I fight back the urge to keep my eyes shut and turn to him at the door. "Edward...?"

"C'mon," he says. "We're going to get Violet and then I promise we'll go right back to the car so you can sleep."

"W-what time is it?" I stumble over my own words.

"Late," Edward replies curtly. "Very, very late."

"How will we...how will we get Violet?" I ask, my eyes playing cruel tricks on me as I failed to keep them open. I trip over a tree root and Edward catches me, guiding me with a firm grip of his hand to my shoulder.

"Dad...," I mutter, clearly talking in my sleep. "Just let me go to the park with Lily. Alex will pick us up, I promise. Dad, I can't find Bella. I can't find Mom."

Edward chuckles tersely and picks me up into his arms, letting my head rest on his shoulder like a baby. He's very strong in being able to carry a fourteen-year-old girl like this for such a long distance. "It's okay, Nessie. I'll let you go with Lily. She's a good girl."

"Okay, Dad," I reply, oblivious to the fact that I am still speaking out loud.

Oblivious to the fact that I am considering Edward is my father _out loud_ to him.

Edward sets me on my feet when we reach the steps leading up to the main building and opens the door for me. I blink my eyes and wipe the tiredness away, regaining my vision and looking around the all-too-familiar foyer of the orphanage where I stayed for ten years of my life. "You ready?" Edward asks, placing a hand on my back as I waver and blink again.

"Yeah," I say. "Let's go save Private Violet."

He laughs quietly at my response and leads me into a small room that smells like an old school gymnasium. As soon as Edward puts me in one of the cushioned seats, my head falls backward and I begin to snooze, my eyelids drooping. A hand reaches out and cradles my head, and Edward whispers, "Renesmee, please make an effort to stay awake."

"I'm...I'm trying, I'm trying," I snort and my eyelids flutter open as I stare blankly into space. The blurriness suddenly disperses and I look around, noticing the familiar desk and office where I once stood so very long ago...with Bella.

"Excuse me, sir," a nun says, rushing into the office. "Do you have an appointment?" Her dark brown eyes flash toward me and then she whispers something in Spanish. Her young voice is full of misunderstanding.

"_Jesús Cristo_," she sighs, making the sign of the cross. "Renesmee, is that you?"

"Hmm...what?" I murmur, my voice thick with tiredness.

"Mr. Edward," Sister Fiona begins, "Renesmee is tired. Why is she here and not at her master's house?"

"Mr. Xavier tried to rape and kill her," Edward says coldly. "I brought her back here to come and get Miss Violet Cullen."

Sister Fiona is completely shocked. She begins speaking to herself in rapid Spanish. "_No lo entiendo_..._que parecía estar bien..._oh, no no no." She gathers a bunch of papers together on her desk and whisks out of the room, a few of the stray sheets flying to the carpeted floor. I look over at my protector and see that he is rubbing his temples agitatedly.

"Edward," I breathe. "Where'd she go?"

He stares at the ground, his smoldering eyes suddenly fading from gold to a dark brown. "I'm not sure, but she better be back with Violet." He sounds threatening.

"Well don't kill her if she's not," I say, emerging from my sleepy coma.

Edward shoots me a menacing glare, but his eyes soften as he looks over my porcelain face. Something about me makes his paternal instincts kick in whenever I am around him...it's strange.

Just then the thought of my blood-related father drifts back to my mind. I push it away and look at the floor as Sister Fiona hurries back into the room with Violet behind her. "Mr. Edward, you cannot just take Violet Eclipse with you. You need to sign forms and papers and contracts..." Her eyes dart quickly across the room as she gives Edward all the information in a rushed, nervous tone.

"Ness!" Violet whispers, and I look up to see my cousin standing there waving excitedly behind Sister Fiona.

"Vi!" I exclaim in a hushed voice as Sister Fiona and Edward stand over the desk, looking at different papers and such.

She runs to me and hugs me, wrapping her arms around me tightly. "I can't believe you're alive," she murmurs.

"Yeah," I breathe. "Me neither."

"Oh, Nessie, I thought you were gonna die for sure!"

I laugh nervously. "I almost did. One of my masters tried to kill me."

Violet goes bug-eyed and suddenly Edward and Sister Fiona turn to us. "Violet," Sister begins, "you'll be going with Edward and Renesmee from now on."

Violet's golden irises light up with joy as she nods, but something about her face tells me that at the same time he's happy, she's also something else.

Scared.

"Vi," I begin. "Are you okay?"

Violet stares out the huge glass window, black with night, and says, "Are you sure we can trust him, Ness?"

I frown and nod. "Of course we can."

Violet turns to me, a look of confusion on her face. "I thought you said that no one could be trusted?"

I shrug and sigh. "Sometimes you have to go with instinct, Violet. This is one of those times."

Violet shifts uncomfortably as Edward leads us out of the dark office and into the foyer. He holds Violet's possessions with care as Sister Fiona follows us through the tall grass pathway to Edward's Volvo. Violet and I get into the backseat as Edward puts her things in the trunk. Then he gets into the driver's seat and zooms away, Sister Fiona waving solemnly behind us. The roads are dark and barren, and dirt flies up behind us as we go a hundred miles over the speed limit.

No one speaks for the first three hours of the trip. Violet stares out the window, a sad and confused expression gracing her face. I sit there and fiddle with my own bronze curls, my feet tapping anxiously at the back of Edward's seat.

"Please stop doing that," he finally says, and I stop. I sit there in pure silence, watching Violet blink her eyes at the white moonbeams. The hills quickly paint pictures as we ride past them, but soon disappear behind the Volvo. I shut my eyes, but the humming of the motor keeps me awake and the car is going so fast that it is hard to relax. There are no other cars on the highway.

"Hey, Vi," I whisper, turning to her, but then I notice that's she's asleep. I turn forward again and sit still, utterly bored with this road trip.

"Edward," I say quietly, hoping he doesn't hear me, but he indeed does.

"Yes?" His darkening eyes stay focused on the road ahead of us, but his jaw is tense and rigid.

I toy with my locket in between my fingers. "Why did you...why did you fix it?" I ask.

Edward sighs. "It would make you happy, and I don't want you to be _unhappy_." His response immediately angers me. If he didn't want me to be unhappy than _why_ did he leave me?!  
"You would've been unhappy if Bella died. I had to leave to keep her safe," Edward mutters, and right away and retort, "How did you know that's what I was thinking about?!"

Edward adjusts the rearview mirror to focus it on my porcelain face and half-smiles. "You're expressions are always easy to read." He chuckles darkly, his serpent-like voice sending chills rippling down my spine. "Like Bella."

I have had enough.

"That's it!" I suddenly shout, and Violet's eyes snap open. "Stop the car!"

"What's going on?" Violet murmurs, still half-asleep.

I don't answer, only glare at Edward. "Stop this car, _now_!"

He steps on the brakes, and slowly the Volvo lurches to a complete stop, remaining stagnant in the middle of the road. "What?" he asks.

"You _know_ what!" I snap. "You keep talking about Bella like she's some childhood crush of yours or something. You sound like her stalker and worse of all, you rub it in my face that you got to see her and I didn't yet!!"

Edward purses his lips and ponders for a second, then suddenly fires his foot onto the gas again as we rocket up the county route.

"There's something wrong going on here," I say, my heart fluttering with fear. "You have to let us out, Edward. I can't trust anyone anymore."

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Edward says, pressing on the pedal harder.

"He probably has a gun in the front seat!" I shout to Violet, and her eyes widen with terror.

"That's ridiculous," he says. "Why would I have a gun?"

"To shoot us!" I interrupt. "You're taking us to a ghost town where you're gonna shoot us to death!"

Edward's face turns irritated. "Why would you say that?!"

"Because you can't trust anyone!!" I scream. Violet covers her ears and curls up into a little ball; I listen closely and hear her crying.

"You can trust me!" Edward says. "You can, just _believe _me. Bella wants me to do this for her!"

"I can't trust _anyone_ in this Godforsaken universe!" I continue, tears blurring my vision. "And I learned that from the best."

All of a sudden, a herd of deer jumps out into the middle of the road. Seven bucks stand frozen in the Volvo's headlights, their antlers jagged and vicious. Violet lets out an ear-splitting shriek and Edward swerves out of the way, driving off the road completely. The car spins out of control, training into an overgrown wheat field. I scream and hold onto Violet, a stray limb from a few randomly scattered trees smashing the windows and shattering the glass. It showers the pieces onto Violet and I, and the car suddenly flips from a crevice in the ground. Violet slips away from my grip and something bangs against my head very hard. Black dots dance across my sight as I gasp and shake away the pain, but it just keeps coming worse. Possibly the worst moment for it, a flashback suddenly arrives: _asleep in an apartment room, I lie snuggled beneath the blankets of a warm twin bed. The comforter is a pretty purple floral pattern, and there are pictures of Bella and me scattered along the lavender walls. I am once again a little girl, only four years old. The crisp autumn air blows in from my open window, and I hear the city of Seattle living and growing beneath our apartment complex. I sniffle once and then sit up in bed, peering around my dark room, allowing my eyes to adjust to the darkness. It is not completely dark, though; the light from the moon shines in as do the lights of all the other apartments and hotels and office buildings and skyscrapers around me. I look at the blinking digital clock on my bedside table—11:03 p.m. I sigh and walk over to my window, kicking off my blankets and peeking out. The dim city lights mix with the darkness to cause some alternative twilight amongst the region, and I look beyond the tall buildings to see the gigantic Space Needle glowing radiantly amidst the black sky. I breath in deeply, closing my eyes serenely. I can hear Bella listening to the television in the front room, and her occasional coughs. All of a sudden, a dangerous voice coos form the corner of my room, "Oh, look who it is? Miss Renesmee Cullen." Out from the shadows steps a dark haired girl with piercing red eyes and a black cape and hood. Jane._

_Two other men are with her—one very tall burly man and another one who looks exactly like her, except male version. Felix and Alec, all from the Volturi._

_I whimper and begin to pant with fear, but Alec appears beside me and cups his hand over my mouth. "Now, now, Renesmee," Jane whispers. "There's no need to be hasty." She and her pal Felix stroll closer toward me, and I begin to struggle against Alec's strength. "Please," I squeak. "Let me go! I didn't do anything."_

"_True," Jane ponders, strolling away from me for a second, but then she whips around and sneers, "But your parents aren't innocent."_

_I take a step away from her, backing up into Alec who still keeps a firm grasp on me. He chuckles darkly and Jane growls, "You didn't really think you'd get away with all this, did you? You didn't think that we, or _I_, would just let you run off merrily after our little 'confrontation', did you?" She laughs bleakly, like an evil villain about to kill their next victim. "Well, guess again, Cullen." She snaps around and abruptly orders, "Felix! Take her, now!"_

_With one fluid movement, Felix grabs my foot, rips open the window screen, and dangles me out of the large opening. "Don't scream, Renesmee, or else there will be consequences."_

_Now I am panicked. I look down below me, watching dizzily as people begin to scream and shout for help, looking up at our apartment window and pointing frantically._

"_This is what happens when Edward and Bella don't follow the rules," Jane jeers, her voice menacing._

"_I-I-I'm s-sorry!!" I stammer, tears slipping out of eyes and running off my forehead, falling onto the sidewalk a hundred feet below us. "Please, let me go!"_

_Jane, Alec, and Felix exchange malicious glances, and Felix mutters, "Whatever you say." Then, I feel his big hand releasing my foot. As if in slow motion I begin to fall, screaming blood-curdling screams that rattle my bones. The people beneath me begin to shriek along with me, and suddenly I grip onto the building's ledge. I pull myself up onto it with all of my might, panting and heaving as I roll onto the two foot wide ledge. My window is only about six feet away, and reach my hand up meekly to make an attempt at reaching it. My fingers slip and almost fall forward, but catch my balance and back up against the wall, crying uncontrollably. Fire trucks race onto the avenue and police cars begin to quell the gathering crowd as I tremble violently amidst the cold air. I dare to look down, my teeth chattering and the salty tears running down my chin. There, racing through the crowd and shoving people out of the way, is a small pixie-like woman who I immediately recognize. She rams into the barricades, nearly knocking them over, and her worried eyes watch me carefully. Her face is begging and pleading for me to not move an inch. I look up above me, still shaking from the cold and fearfulness, to see Bella looking out the empty window shouting my name. "RENESMEE!! RENESMEE!!!!" she hollers, trying to reach down to grab me, but her arm doesn't stretch far enough. A firefighter comes up behind her, gently taking her shoulders and handing her off to one of his coworkers, who is leading her out of the room. I can see her protesting against them, being stubborn as usual. Her lips mold around the slurred words: "You don't understand! Someone pushed my baby out of her window!" Her gestures are wild and her golden eyes are crazed, but the firefighter trains her out of my room. Within seconds, she is pushing through the crowd. She leaps over the barricade despite the officers attempting to hold her back and slaps her hands on the building, yelling up to me more as a ladder from the big red truck nears the ledge. I reach out to him, but he says loudly, "Stay back, ma'am. You can fall easily. We'll come get _you_."_

_I follow his instructions obediently and climb into his arms as he carries me down the ladder, cradling me close to his chest. I shiver and he holds me closer. The way his fatherly instincts are remind me of my father..._Edward_._

_When we reach the ground, Bella races to us. A few other firefighters yank her back, straining her against reaching out to grab me, but she pulls anyway. "Let me—give her to me!" Bella exclaims, snatching me from the man and hugging me close to her. She shakes with dry sobs and I let her cry into me as her words come out muffled and barely comprehensible. "Don't you ever...do that to me ever again, young lady! I—I almost had a heart attack!" She continues to break down as the crowd begins to clap in honor of my safety and the firemen._

"_W-what happened?" she demands, her voice weak._

"_It was Jane from the Volturi, Momma," I whisper, my voice barely audible over the crowd. But Bella understands me perfectly. Her topaz eyes widen with disbelief and she shakes her head frenziedly as I explain to her that Jane threatened me with Alec and Felix. When I am done explaining, Bella lifts me into her arms and rocks me back and forth, rubbing my back soothingly. I squint through the crowd, spotting the short pixie girl again. Her gold eyes are sad and hopeless as she shakes her head and trudges away._

_*flashback ends*_

Part III:

I remain motionless among the shattered glass and debris of the smashed Volvo. I lie in between a small crook that separates the front and back seats. Violet is propped up against me, her eyes shut closed and her fists clenched together. I look to the front seat, but no one is there. Then, I hear an awful screeching noise—metal scratching against metal.

"Nessie, Violet?!" I hear a familiar voice shout to us through one of the smashed windows. I blink a few times, noticing a drop of blood emerging from a small cut on my forehead and watching it slide down the side of my face as someone grabs my arm. His skin is cold and rock-hard.

I yank my hand back, alarmed by his sudden touch, but then Edward says, "No, no, Renesmee! Give me your hand and I'll get you out."

"Okay." I give him my hand and slowly he lifts me out of the crushed Volvo. He hugs me close to his chest, his strong hands never wavering nor loosening as I tremble. The trickle of blood drips lazily off my chin and rolls onto his shirt, but he doesn't move. His eyes are closed and his perfect face is sculpted into a look of pain and thought as his whole body remains still.

Then I hear a cry from the inside of the car. Edward and I suddenly run to the window, only to see Violet still curled up and afraid.

"Vi!" I call. "Can you hear me?!"

"Of course I can hear you," she snorts. "We're in the middle of an old farm with no one else around for miles; and to top that, you're about two feet away from me."

I let out a sigh of respite and Edward tears one of the pieces of metal off the roof of the car, leaving a huge gap just big enough for Violet to get through. Edward leaps lithely on top of the car and helps her through, gently placing her in the stalks of overgrown wheat. The stars twinkle above us in the night sky, and I watch as Edward slides off the roof of the destroyed car and lands without noise on the ground.

"Now what?" Violet says.

I shrug, but Edward takes out a cell phone and dials quickly, putting the silver object up to his ear. "Carlisle I need you to come get us...we're somewhere in Iowa, I believe. No, there was a freak accident...deer in the road...track our scent." And then he hangs up the phone, shoving it back in his pocket.

"Carlisle's coming soon," Edward says quietly. "He'll be here as soon as he can."

"Who's Carlisle?" Violet asks, practically reading my mind.

"He's your grandfather," Edward says hesitantly. "He's a little young, only because he was married at age eighteen..."

"Well how old is he?!" I demand.

"Er, forty-seven. But he looks a lot younger than that, like he's twenty-three," Edward explains. "Ness, let me see that cut on your forehead." He motions for me to come near him, but I don't budge.

"Renesmee, please come here," he says.

I sigh and walk toward him as he places his ice-hold hand on my forehead, feeling the gash. Blood drips onto his fingers, and I notice that his eyes are no longer a dark gold, but a very dark brown—almost black.

"We'll need to clean it," he says, his eyebrows knit together in concern. He has such a look of sincerity on his beautiful face that I believe it is actually carved like that. "Carlisle will probably have some cleaning chemicals." He looks down at his watch. "He should be here soon."

Then, Violet decides to speak. "How did we get to Iowa so fast?" she says, staring out at the stalks of wheat blowing gracefully in the hot summer-night wind.

"I drive fast," Edward covers up quickly, his eyes never leaving the oozing cut on my forehead. His defined jaw is still clenched tensely and his hands shake as the blood drips down his fingers. His eyes are wide and crazed now, and his irises are a pitch black.

"You know," I say, pushing his hand away from my cut, "if it's _really_ bothering you to be near my cut, then please don't feel like you have to do this."

Violet's brow is furrowed and she watches us curiously, her golden eyes hinted with confusion. "So, this Carlisle man is our _grandfather_?"

Edward nods. "Yeah, he is."

I look at the ground and wrinkle my nose. There is a long moment of silence, and then Edward walks off into the field. "I'll be right back," he says, slipping into the darkness. I roll my eyes and crawl over to where Violet is quietly sitting.

"He's such a freaking stalker," I mutter.

Violet whips around to face me, her expression hard. "He's trying to help us, you know."

I narrow my eyes at her. "Well, he's _weird_. He knows more about our family than _we_ do." She stares out into the open field as I tell her this. "Don't you think that's kinda CREEPY?!"

Violet bites her lip anxiously. "I don't know who to believe. I mean, if Edward really does know our family, then yay for us. But if he doesn't, and he's just luring us into some sadistic trap, well then so be it; we'll either a.)be reunited with our families, b.)make a daring escape for our lives, or c.)die. And I think it'd be choice A on this one."

I don't realize my jaw is dropped open until Violet takes my chin and shuts my mouth.

"This is retarded, Vi—" I begin, but she cuts me off right away.

"No, its not. _You're _the one who chose to trust this guy in the first place. _You're_ the one who believed in him a few years back. And _you're_ the one who got us into this mess!"

"So now its my fault?"

"Well, sorta, yeah," Violet replies, nodding vigorously. "If you hadn't been so mentally troubled and rebellious we'd still be living happily at the orphanage."

"That place was hell, Vi—you and I both know it."

"Maybe it wouldn't have been if you got along with everyone."

"I got along with a lot of people." I cross my arms defiantly.

Violet glares at me, a look of sarcasm on her face. Then, she grabs the back of my shirt and lifts it up, running her finger down the jagged scar that I received from fighting. "Oh yeah, you were a mellow one all right. And I suppose you got this scar from landing in a patch of daisies? Or did the unicorn give it to you when you didn't give him the magic rainbow cookies?"

"Ha ha, you're killing me," I reply, my voice impassive.

"I mean it," Violet snaps, her eyes shifty. I stick my tongue out at her and flare my nostrils, but she lumbers away muttering, "Yeah, real mature, Ness."

Just then, a black Mercedes speeding down the dark road comes into view. Its lights blind me, and I duck amidst the wheat. "Violet!" I call, my voice hushed, squinting in the sudden light to see her crouching down in the wheat stalks. I duck just as Edward appears back in the clearing where we are.

"Edward, get _down_," I hiss, my voice pleading him to actually listen for once.

He completely ignores me, dashing out to the road in a blur. _What an idiot!!_ I think to myself. I pick a rock up off the moist ground and am about to launch it at him when suddenly a tall thin man with light blonde hair and pale skin steps out of the Mercedes. In the mere shine of the headlights, I noticed a faint golden shimmer in his eyes, like Violet's. It must be Carlisle. It must be our Grandpa.

He and Edward are discussing something very, very quietly. I strain my ears to hear them, keeping as still as a statue in the wheat stalks. Eventually, my ears adjust to the quiet and I pick up on what Edward is saying: "She's with me...having a hard time...pugnacious...stubborn like Bella...Violet, too..." Just then, Violet looks over at me, her eyes wide. Apparently, she heard the conversation as well as her name being mentioned in it. She crawls toward me, her graceful movements barely moving the plants. She taps my shoulder tediously, and as scared as I am, I begin to hold my grudge against her. "Ness..." she whispers, her voice small and hushed.

I simply ignore her, squinting through the blades of grass, pretending to be focusing on Carlisle and Edward's conversation.

"Ness, I'm sorry," Violet says, looking at the ground.

No answer.

"_Nessie_!"

Ignored.

"Renesmee Carlie Cullen!!" she shrieks in a whisper, her voice going even more shrill than it already is.

I turn and face the other way, my acting absolutely horrific, but then she rams into me, sending me sprawling onto the ground.

"RENESMEE!!!!" she snarls. "Answer me!!"

I regain my breath after having the wind knocked outta me and roll over, pinning her to the ground. "Are you happy now, Violet?!" I slap her across the cheek, but her skin is soft but tough like mine. A red mark eventually begins to appear, and she pushes me off her, pinning me to the ground a few feet closer to the road where Carlisle and Edward are.

"You're a freak!" Violet growls, her usual bell-chime voice now a low, vicious growl. "You're the one who turned my life upside-down."

I fling her off me and tackle her back to the ground as she attempts to get up and run. "I was only trying to save you from trouble."

This time, Violet doesn't fight me, but simply glares at me, her black-and-blonde hair dirty with the soil from the field. "You only taught me that horrible things come out of solving your problems by violence." She flicks my forehead with her fingers, her mouth puckered in a sour but firm line. "I'll just call you Scars from now on, 'cause that's really all you are. You should open a museum on your arm someday. I'm sure everyone will know 'The Nessie Cullen Museum' as a gallery of the finest and most gruesome scars in the world! You can be the tour guide."

I don't say anything this time. I launch my fist into her face but she catches it and pulls my hair, rolling on top of me and punching my side.

"You're a _bitch_, that's what you are!" I snap, my fists clenching over the loose strands of her hair and pulling on it.

Violet winces and grabs my shirt collar. "Take it _back_!"

"NO!"

"I hate you!" Violet hollers, and suddenly I feel the gravelly pebbles digging into my back from the asphalt. The two of us look up to see the man and Edward staring down at us with bewildered expressions. "This is what has become of the two young ladies," Edward manages to mutter, and Carlisle's eyebrows are raised at us in disbelief.

"I don't remember leaving you two like this...," he murmurs and then blinks, exchanging a quick glance with Edward as Violet and I stand up and brush the dirt off our clothes. "I'm Carlisle Cullen," he greets, reaching his hand out. The two of us reach at the same time but Carlisle pulls us into a strong hug. "I'm your grandfather, if you can remember anything..."

"I do," Violet says quickly, nearly cutting him off. "I remember you."

I roll my eyes at her, and sadly shake my head. "I'm sorry, Car—er, Grandpa. I don't remember anyone except for Bella."

Edward looks at the ground, his eyebrows knitted together in a confused way. He looks almost depressed.

Carlisle purses his lips and sighs. "Well, we'll soon fix that slight dilemma." He exchanges another short glance with Edward, who mindlessly walks to the passenger seat of the Mercedes.

"Violet, Renesmee...you can get in the backseat," Carlisle instructs as he walks around to the driver's side and gets in, shutting the door.

"After you," I grumble, opening the car door. As she climbs in, I am seriously considering slamming it on her butt, but I stiffly climb in after her and flop down onto the seat. I am surprised at how tired I am, because after I put my seatbelt on, I feel my eyes lazily closing. My head rests against the leather and it feels like a mere five minutes, but I open my eyes and see mist rising above the hills and dissolving into the sky, now glowing lightly with the morning sun. I feel something hard and cold touch my knee, but I dare not open my eyes. I hear Carlisle's voice then. "Edward, leave her. She's resting."

"She doesn't even know who I am, Carlisle. Doesn't she remember?"

"I guess not, my son. She has been through a lot, and she's only a teenager."

There is a long pause. "What about her powers and aging?"

"She lost her powers after being away from you for so long...they will return soon, but Bella will be the final piece to that puzzle. As for her aging, it slowed to normal because of the fact that, again, she was away from you and Bella for so long. The longer she stays away from us, the more human she becomes."

Edward doesn't say anything in reply, but I remain still and lifeless against the black leather seats.

About three things I am absolutely positive:

One, Edward (as well as me) is not human.

Two, there is a part of him, and I don't know how dominant that part may be, that feels extremely protective of me and Bella.

And three, I am unconditionally and irrevocably sure that he is my father.

Then, I woke up.


End file.
